


Pandora

by TheDevilLord



Category: Kings of Paradise (Visual Novel), スイートルームで悪戯なキス | Kissed By the Baddest Bidder
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2019-10-08 22:23:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 45,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17394779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDevilLord/pseuds/TheDevilLord
Summary: When the Pandora box is opened, things you never knew existed are unleashed.





	1. Perfection

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence"

- _Vince Lombardi_

* * *

_Perfection._

Eisuke was never a believer of the word ' _perfection_ '.

There was little to nothing that deserved to be pinned as perfect. If something could be improved and better, then it was never perfect to begin with. That was what Eisuke believed until the appearance of a certain secretary; Matsuoka Haruka. It irritated Eisuke to know that perfection existed in that tiny body. It irritated him because she was the last person Eisuke ever imagined being perfect. She was the last person Eisuke ever imagined having to rely on. Yet here he was, eight years later, pampered by his personal wake-up call with everything set and ready for him every morning.

As Haruka went to put a tie around his neck, he stopped her. He never liked wearing a tie with his suit; it was suffocating. Not to mention the fact that nobody in this world could ever do a perfect tie knot for him. Haruka never could either before. Eisuke could still clearly remember the day during her first year of employment when he had to attend a formal event. That meant he had to wear a tie. He ended up as a no show that night because it took Haruka two hours to figure out how to put on a tie for him and still somehow messed it up. He had been wary about formal events since then but as with everything she did, the next time he had to wear a tie, Haruka did it perfectly.

"It's a formal event, Mr. Ichinomiya, you have to wear a tie." Holding both ends of the tie firmly in her hands, Haruka did not budge until Eisuke reluctantly gave up. Watching as her fingers were skillfully working on the knot, Eisuke was reminded of her very first day at work. The quiet and timid girl who would be startled every time Eisuke spoke was no longer. Standing before him was a confident, snarky woman. "Perfection."

"There's no such thing as perfection," Eisuke stated, putting on the dress vest. "You work towards perfection and you achieve excellence."

"Thank you for your compliment, sir. I do think I did an excellent job with your tie."

Leaving Eisuke to finish dressing after a cheeky comment, Haruka headed straight for the coffee machine in the living room. Her hands moved on their own; from setting up the machine to grinding the coffee beans to finally brewing that one cup of coffee was all automatic for Haruka now. Dropping three cubes of sugar with lots of milk as the finishing touch, the cup of coffee was now simply waiting for Eisuke.

Emerging from his bedroom, Eisuke sat on the sofa as Haruka handed him the cup of coffee. Every morning, despite the wake-up call, the only time when Eisuke would truly wake up was when the smell of coffee would fill the entire suite. Waiting until he took the first sip, Haruka handed the tablet to him next and went through their usual morning routine of double checking the schedule while highlighting the important emails and documents. Eisuke never really bothered looking at the tablet, though he would never admit it out loud. Eight years ago, he would have everything triple-checked by a third party but now, he placed complete trust in Haruka's ability. Mistake was not a part of her dictionary. Or well...it had been removed.

Finishing the cup of coffee, Eisuke handed the tablet back and got up when Haruka let out a soft gasp like she had made a mistake. "Good morning, Mr. Ichinomiya." Tilting his head slightly with one eyebrow raised, Eisuke was rightfully confused. They had already started their morning, was it not a little late to greet him now? That was when Eisuke realised what that gasp was for. "I'm sorry for greeting late."

"Just don't forget tomorrow morning."

"I won't, sir."

* * *

"I didn't expect to see you here, Yosuke."

"I didn't expect to see  _you_  here, Yonghua."

Meeting the man halfway, Yosuke held his hand out for a shake with a smile. He had to admit that such an event was not usually to his taste but Yosuke had to make an appearance for a client of his. He was only planning to stay for a short while out of courtesy though somehow, he ended up overstaying the original intended period. He was glad, however, because he would never have met Yonghua; a good friend but an even better business opportunity. It was never a bad idea to be on Yonghua's good side, especially if Yosuke wanted to enter the exclusive Chinese market.

"Are you here to meet the wonder woman?" Yonghua's question caught Yosuke a little off guard though the confused expression lingered for merely a second before he smiled, waiting for Yonghua's explanation. "I heard that she will be here at the event today. I've only met her once but she truly is a remarkable woman."

"Who are you talking about?"

For Yonghua to speak so highly of her, this woman must truly be something.

"She's nothing but a secretary of the famous Ichinomiya Eisuke. Though, I've heard so many men in this room singing high praises for her. I'm surprised you have yet to meet her, Yosuke, considering your line of work. If you ever manage to get your hands on her, you will never be short of offers, that's for sure. She was offered a sky high salary just to work for Mr. Zhao of Mana Electrics, imagine the numbers for proposals. You'll never miss her, she'll definitely be turning heads. You'll never be able to resist her either, she has a certain...charm."

Suddenly, Yosuke was eager to stay on for the event.

Although an investor by day, his other line of work was not necessarily agreed upon by others. Men like Yonghua, however, put their trust in Yosuke to find them the perfect bride and girls who desperately wished for a better life put their trust in Yosuke to find them men like Yonghua. Most of the times, these girls would come to Yosuke themselves. All he had to do was train them, match them with potential husbands, and hope that one of the matches would click. Not once did Yosuke actively seek out a woman. He was intrigued from what Yonghua told him; it was unbelievable that such a woman existed and Yosuke never knew about her.

"The guest of honour, Mr. Southwell, is the owner of several PR firms in Japan. It would be a good idea to make friends with him. If I'm not wrong, the creative director of Addison and Rhodes will be there too, perhaps we could-"

As she looked over to Eisuke, Haruka stopped mid-sentence. He was not paying attention to her, though he did have a frown deeply knitted in his brows. There were many things her boss did not like, and social events like the one they were heading to were one of those things. The fake smiles and conversations, all so they would like him enough to consider a business opportunity, that was what Eisuke hated the most. If he was not the owner of Tres Spades, he would never entertain those people. Knowing that it was the event itself bothering Eisuke, Haruka decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the way. The last thing she needed was Eisuke having another mood while having a mood.

Staring out the window, Eisuke subconsciously loosened the tie around his neck. He could still remember the days when Tres Spades was still a work in progress and although he knew from the beginning it would be a huge success, he still had to attend events like so and please people like so. He had to be liked in order for his hotel to be liked. Those times were insufferable. From a certain time onward, however, those events did not seem half bad. Sure, he still hated the socialising part of it but in general, it did not feel suffocating to be at the venue.

Realising that he could no longer hear Haruka's voice, Eisuke glanced over in her direction.

It was from the time when Haruka started working for him; that was when Eisuke did not mind the events and parties as much. The first time he brought her along, she did not have any accessories, nor a dress appropriate enough so he took her shopping. Then, it was the amusement of watching her at the refreshment tables looking so helpless because everything looked so flawless and she did not want to ruin the aesthetics. She had blossomed since then, winning the hearts of many clients with a simple smile. She was always the only person Eisuke could have a conversation with, without feeling like he was about to sock it to her.

Arriving at the venue, Eisuke put on his most professional business smile and started working his charms the moment he stepped into the event hall. Haruka stood by his side with an equally professional smile of her own, chiming in every now and then in the conversations. It was only when Eisuke asked for a glass of wine did she finally get to have a break. Her jaws were starting to lock in from all the smiling.

"Here you go, sir."

"Mr. Southwell and I have some business to discuss but he'd like to do it privately," Eisuke informed her. "I won't be gone for too long. Mingle around, but do not cause me any trouble."

"When have I ever, Mr. Ichinomiya?"

"December 15th, seven years ago."

"That was one time, sir. One time."

Left alone, Haruka suddenly felt lonely and out of place. She would never find herself in events like this if she never worked for Eisuke. Perhaps she would be one of the servers, but she never would have dreamt herself to be one of the beautifully dressed guests. Now that she was by herself, however, she could feel just how different this world was to her own despite immersing in such lifestyle for the past eight years. It was definitely not enough time for her to get used to all the extravaganza.

A light tap on her shoulder startled her slightly though she soon had a smile on her face to see who the attention seeker was.

" _Mr. Lee, it is a pleasure to see you again._ "

"It's nice to see you again too, Miss Matsuoka. There's a friend I'd like to introduce you to. This is-"

"Mr. Sagara Yosuke, nice to meet you."

Holding her hand out for a shake, Haruka managed to catch that microsecond of confusion on the man's face as he shook her hand. It came with her line of work naturally, for her to find out anything and almost everything about every guest at every event they were attending. She made the mistake once of forgetting a client's name; a mistake she would never make again. It had become quite a bad habit of hers to see the confusion and/or the amusement on people's face whenever she could name them.

She knew Yonghua from a previous event. It was not one quite as formal as this but she could still remember how she thought he looked impeccable. He carried himself with such grace and backed it up with real gentleman actions. While it was just the one meeting they had, it was one of the most memorable and enjoyable for Haruka. The man with him, however, Haruka was meeting for the first time.

His was a name she had come across quite often. In Eisuke's line of work, it was no surprise that they would run into many people in different professions. Sagara Yosuke was a name that came up several times in a list of investors though Eisuke never requested a meeting for reasons unknown. Since he was never a potential client nor partner, Haruka never learnt much about the man other than the fact that he was associated with several others that Eisuke might have an interest working with. Still, she greeted him with the perfect business smile because one would never know, perhaps Eisuke would like to work with him one day.

"Well isn't that interesting, a woman who knows my name yet I don't know hers," Yosuke smiled, shaking her hand.

"That is because you are an important man whereas I am no one important."

"You are pretty important to Ichinomiya Eisuke," Yonghua commented. "I see that no one has succeeded in prying you away from his claws."

"I enjoy working for Mr. Ichinomiya," Haruka said. "He's...an interesting man. Not a perfect boss but an excellent one."

Watching as the woman interacted with Yonghua, Yosuke could not help but smile. She was indeed, remarkable. There was no doubt she was beautiful; just the number of eyes on her, men and women alike, was more than proof enough. She was perfectly poised too; every little movement of hers was spewed with elegance. Yosuke was starting to understand what Yonghua meant by her charm too. The way she looked straight into Yonghua's eyes as she spoke, and how perfectly sculpted her smile was. How she would show off her intelligence yet held back so as not to come across too strong.

This woman was perfect.

Because this woman was trained to be perfect.

"I never got your name," Yosuke smiled.

"I am so sorry, how rude of me. Matsuoka Haruka, it's a pleasure to meet you sir."

"From experience, when a woman stays with a man, it's usually because she has feelings for him. Or, he has feelings for her because he cannot let her go. I wonder which is it for you and Ichinomiya Eisuke."

"Neither. Mr. Ichinomiya is simply my boss, and I am nothing but his secretary. I stay on with Mr. Ichinomiya, no matter the offers I get, only because of one word. Loyalty."

"I never quite believed in a hetero-relationship that is purely platonic without even a hint of romance."

"There's always a first in everything, Mr. Sagara. Like how I never thought I'd meet you because Mr. Ichinomiya was never interested in working with you. If you'll excuse you, I have to get back to Mr. Ichinomiya. It was truly a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Sagara. And it had been so nice to see you again, Mr. Lee. Hopefully our paths will cross again one day."

With one last business smile and a small bow, Haruka turned on her heels and disappeared into the crowd. Yosuke's words lingered in her mind, however. Whenever she was asked why she insisted on staying with Eisuke when she had been given much better offers elsewhere, better opportunities, Haruka always gave the standard answer of loyalty. Eisuke hired her during her most desperate times, when she thought no one would ever hire just a high school graduate, and she always felt that she owed everything she had now to him. But there was something about what Yosuke said that irked her though she could not quite put her finger on it.

The moment she saw her boss parting with another man, Haruka went up to him. She put the wine glass she had in her hand down and instinctively went for the loosened tie. Just before she could fix it, however, Eisuke caught her hands with an irritated expression plastered on his face. Whatever it was that he was talking about with that man, it did not go well and it put her boss in a bad mood.

"We're leaving."

"I'll have the driver bring the car around." Once they were in the car, Eisuke pulled his tie off, throwing it in the middle seat. Haruka picked the tie up and neatly folded it before putting it into her bag. "I assume it did not go well with Mr. Southwell?" The British man was rumoured to be quite a handful; always demanding a lot from his business partner, expecting to receive lots in rewards with minimum effort on his side. "We could always find another partner."

"Contact Emmett Lawson."

"Mr. Lawson? But he's Mr. Southwell's long time part- Ah...I will be getting in contact with him immediately."

Leaning back in her seat, Haruka set a reminder on her phone with a small smile. She used to find it despicable, the way Eisuke would deal business, yet now she was so used to it that she was actually starting to enjoy the ways in which he would get back at those who crossed him.  _It's a dog eat dog world_ , Eisuke once said,  _It's either me or him, and the only option is always him going down_. Just as she was about to lock her phone, a reminder popped up.

"Oh yes, I would like to remind you that my replacement will be starting tomorrow."

"Hm..." Without much thought, Eisuke responded. When her words finally registered, he frowned as he turned to face her. "Replacement? What replacement?" He tried to comb through his memories, looking for a particular one where Haruka mentioned a replacement, or the fact that she needed to be replaced though his memory failed him. Or perhaps, it never existed to begin with.

"I'm taking a six months leave in a month's time," Haruka said, surprised to see Eisuke surprised. He was the one who signed off on it, after all. "You signed my leave form, sir, three months ago? I asked about my replacement a month ago and you told me to deal with it. I purposely asked for her to start a month early so I could train her. Did you...forget?"

Six months leave? This was the first he had ever heard of it. Every day, Haruka would bring him so many documents that sometimes, he had no idea what he signed. She could have handed him a document to sign over his company and entire fortune, and still Eisuke would have signed without checking. But surely he would have an impression, at the very least, of her asking for a six months leave. A month was understandable, but six months seemed to be too long a time to be taking off.

What could she possible do with all that time? How could she guarantee that the replacement would be good? What if Eisuke needed her? Would she even be back after six months? Question after question flooded his mind as Eisuke glared intensively at Haruka. How could she abandon him when she had been by his side for the last eight years?

"Forget? Of course not. It's just not important enough for me to care."


	2. Control

"Anything you can't control is teaching you how to let go"

- _Jackson Kiddard_

* * *

_She carried the cup of coffee with shaking hands. It was a sign that Eisuke should have picked up earlier but he was too engrossed in the blueprints of the casino hotel he had been planning. This would be his proof to the world that he was not a waste of Akira's investment. This would be his way of paying back Akira. This would be his way of building his own empire. But his dream was crushed the moment she put the cup on the table and her shaking hands spilled the entire cup of coffee all over the blueprints._

_He stood instantly with anger but he calmed the second he saw the panic and tears in her eyes. She kept apologising, her hands still shaking while she tried to clean up and staining the sleeves of her pure white blouse. Eisuke took in a deep breath before saying the five words he regretted to this day._

_"Can you do anything right?"_

_"No, I can't."_

_She stopped wiping the table down with her sleeves, tears still rolling down her cheeks but there was a different look in her eyes now. Determination. A look that screamed '_ I'm going to prove you wrong'.  _She wiped the tears with the back of her hand and stood straight, puffing her chest out a little to look bigger than she was. She took a step forward and looked Eisuke straight in the eyes, still sniffing._

_"I can't do anything right but I'm going to learn. I will make you regret ever saying those words."_

And she did.

If there was one thing Haruka excelled at, it was keeping her promises. Since that one time she spilled coffee over his blueprints, she had done nothing but better herself until perfection became the only word to describe her. But there was something eating away at Eisuke.

Three years into her employment under Eisuke, Haruka received her first ever outside offer. Akira was always joking about how much more competent Haruka was compared to his secretary and how he would poach her right from under Eisuke's nose. Eisuke never paid attention to his empty threat. When a man from a rival company approached his secretary privately, however, Eisuke flipped. He bought out the man's shares in the heat of the moment and sold the company off the very next second, all so he could not steal Haruka. That was when she promised Eisuke she would never leave him. She kept that promise until now.

"Are you ready to talk about what's on your mind?"

Snapped back to reality, Eisuke casually looked over in Soryu's direction. He had not been listening for the past however long, but Eisuke was not letting it show. Albeit, Soryu already knew everything that was going on because Eisuke called him for a meeting in the middle of the night after Haruka reminded him of her six months leave. However, since Soryu showed up in his suite, Eisuke had talked about almost everything but Haruka.

But as a childhood friend, Soryu could read Eisuke better than anyone. The only other person on par was Haruka. The moment he set foot in the suite, Soryu knew something was not quite right though he did not ask. He entertained Eisuke in every other conversation, waiting for him to get to the subject he really wanted to talk about but Eisuke never did. After hours of going over pointless lists for the auction, Soryu finally had enough. He had to get it out of him.

"What do you mean what's on my mind? I'm here to talk about the auction, nothing else."

"Seems like something else is bothering you though. Were you even listening to me before?"

There were many things Eisuke liked about Soryu; they were reasons why Eisuke asked him to join and kept him around. Just as there was light, there would always be darkness. There were things that Eisuke did not like about Soryu either, like the fact that he knew Eisuke so well. Too well.

"Haruka's leaving. Well, not leaving. She's taking a six months leave."

"And that's bothering you because?"

Eisuke frowned at Soryu's response. Was he not bothered by that? While Soryu was known for not being a big fan of the opposite sex, he got along well with Haruka. Like with any other woman, Soryu was skeptical of Haruka at first and kept his distance. In a short period of just three weeks, Haruka managed to break all of Soryu's walls and was enjoying tea with him in the afternoon. They had their own sets of conversation that Eisuke could never join, nor understand. Soryu eventually began borrowing Haruka from time to time when things got a little too busy at headquarters.

Of all people, Eisuke expected Soryu to stand on his side regarding the issue. Not because they were childhood friends and Soryu should always be on his side for loyalty but because Soryu of all people should know how important Haruka was.

"Haruka's worked so hard for eight years, I think she deserves a break. But if that's still bothering you then perhaps you could try something called talking."

"I am not appreciating the condescending tone."

"The truth hurts, Eisuke."

~ _Meanwhile_ ~

After the morning call and coffee for Eisuke, Haruka left for the lobby. Right on time was a bubbly-looking young woman, dressed in an all new outfit with her hair done up so she would look more mature. Haruka could not help the smile on her face as she was reminded of herself eight years ago. On her first day, she too wore an all new suit and brand new high heels. She had her hair up in a ponytail so she would look more professional and presentable. She was a bright and hopeful girl too, looking forward to the possibilities ahead of her. She was seeing all of that in her, Miyazawa Yumi.

She made the usual greetings, introducing her to the brief history of the hotel and Kenzaki before taking her up to the penthouse. Haruka was nervous, she would admit. She was not afraid of Yumi taking over completely while she was gone for six months but rather, she was afraid of the gang scaring her off. When Haruka first met them, her opinions on them were rather...unimpressive. It was over time she got to really know them and changed what she thought of them.

"This is the penthouse, you'll need a card key to use the elevator but Kenzaki-san would have that ready for you by the afternoon. I must warn you, Mr. Ichinomiya is not the only resident of the penthouse. Some of his closer acquaintances also live here and they can be quite a handful."

"Oh, I have three younger brothers at home, I think I can handle them."

"I hope you can too." With a smile, Haruka finally pushed open the door to the penthouse lounge and as always, it was crowded by the gang. "So, this is the lounge. It acts like a living room for everyone living here. This is where everyone meets for business talks or just to hang out. There is a small kitchen just over there."

"I love it when my morning starts with seeing my first love."

Sauntering in Haruka's direction, Baba smelt the rose in his hand before presenting it to the woman. Reminded of her first encounter with Baba, Haruka could only sigh internally as she politely accepted the rose. She never quite liked Baba's playful flirting but since she had been accustomed to it, Haruka had a feeling she might actually miss the flirting when she went on leave.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Baba. Thank you for the rose," she smiled. "May I introduce you to Miyazawa Yumi? She will be my replacement for six months so please, treat her nicely. That means no scaring her with unnecessary flirting, Mr. Baba."

"I am offended that you said unnecessary flirting. And here I am, thinkin- Wait a second, did you just say replacement?"

"She said six months too."

"You're leaving us? You're leaving Eisuke? Wow, I wonder how he's taking the news," Ota sighed, though he had a playful smirk on.

"Hold up a second, you're  _leaving_? When? Since when? What the hell is going on?"

In the midst of the chaos, Haruka's phone started ringing. While ignoring the men, Haruka signalled to Yumi that she was taking a call before leaving the lounge. She knew it would cause a commotion the second she told them but it was better to rip the bandage off fast. Half a year seemed like a very long time but it would pass by with a blink of an eye. That was what she kept telling herself whenever she had doubts about taking such a long leave.

"Hello? Yes, of course. I shall see you there, sir."

* * *

"How's the salmon?"

"Absolutely delicious, sir."

"Always a delight to see that smile of yours."

"If I may, Mr. Ichinomiya, could you please tell me the reason why you really ask me out to lunch?"

"Call me Akira please, I cannot stress that enough. Whenever you call me Mr. Ichinomiya, I feel like I have to act like Eisuke."

Haruka was no stranger to the sudden lunch calls. Many times, over the years, Akira would call her out of the blue and invite her out to lunch or dinner. Each time, he would specify not to tell Eisuke. One would think they were having an affair (and several tabloid magazines thought so though they never dished anything on it). The lunches, however, were just a way of Akira getting updates on Eisuke every now and then.

Her boss was not a man to talk about his feelings. And neither was Akira, to be fair. So that was where Haruka came into the equation; a conversation over lunch just to catch up on what Eisuke was up to and how he had been. She was more than happy to play the role and Akira was always great company.

Today, however, felt different.

They were out for lunch like always and they talked about Eisuke as usual but Haruka knew something was not quite right. The man had been holding back on something and with lunch ending soon, he did not have much time so Haruka decided to give him a little push.

"Alright, Akira-sama, is there something you'd like to talk to me about?"

"I forget how formal you can be sometimes," Akira smiled before letting out a sigh. He dabbed the corners of his mouth with his napkin and took a sip of his wine before looking Haruka straight in the eyes. She could tell that whatever it was, it was serious. "Is it true that you're leaving Eisuke?"

"Did Mr. Ichinomiya tell you?"

"Not exactly. I think the text was meant for Soryu and he didn't say much except that you were leaving."

"Mr. Ichinomiya is not as well put together as he presents himself," Haruka joked.

It was unlike Eisuke to accidentally send a text to someone else, however. It only showed how much he was affected by her decision to take some time off, something that Haruka did not quite understand. After spending eight years together, there was no denying that Eisuke had become someone who was almost like family. She saw him every single day and they spent the majority of the days together. There was bound to be some sort of bond between them.

But Haruka also knew Eisuke.

There was no way a man like him could be affected by something so minute. Or so she thought. After all, he was always the one reminding her that if she ever made a mistake, he could easily replace her.

"I'd like you to know that I'm not here to convince you to stay. I'm actually here in support of you taking time off."

Her eyes widened slightly at Akira's words and she was a little too stunned to keep the smile on her face. When she told Eisuke, he acted nonchalant but she knew he was not happy. When she told Baba and the others, they acted dramatic but at the same time, they expressed their true feelings about her leaving. She was expecting a lecture from Akira about having better work ethics, and how taking so much time away from her job could potentially cause her to lose it. She was definitely not expecting this from him.

"I know how hard you've worked for Eisuke. I think we all know that. I won't be the only person to say that you deserve all the time off you want. And I think this is a good thing for Eisuke too, to get away from you. Maybe he'll realise now how precious you really are and really learn to cherish you."

"We all have to let go someday, of anything and everything. I don't think I'd work for Mr. Ichinomiya forever but, I think I'd be working a really long time for him. I guess...I'd just like a little break every now and then. To do the things that I really want to do."

"Like getting a boyfriend?"

"I'm not one for romance."

At her age, most of her friends were either getting married or already married with children. That used to be Haruka's dream too, to marry the man she loved and have children together. They would live in a small but cozy home and although they were not living the high life, they had enough to get by in life and were happy with just each other. That dream shattered a long time ago and she never thought about it since. Romance was not a priority on her list.

"That's too bad, you'd be perfect for Eisuke."

"As Mr. Ichinomiya likes to say, nothing is perfect. I'm sure there are better people out there for Mr. Ichinomiya. I'm content with just being his secretary."

"Don't speak too lowly of yourself, Haruka. If I were twenty years younger, I'd love to take you out too."

"I'm flattered, Akira-sama."

* * *

As the hectic day was coming to an end, Haruka found herself laying in bed staring up at the ceiling as she continuously let out sighs. She was exhausted. Akira was right in saying that she had been working hard all this time and that her leave was completely justified. She definitely needed to take a break from everything. Just the thought of the sweet freedom had her grinning from ear to ear as she rolled onto her stomach and reached for the planner on her nightstand. There were so many things she wanted to do but never did have time and now that she had the time, Haruka could not choose what she wanted to do.

Perhaps a reunion with her school friends? She missed quite a few of those. Or a shopping spree? She had not been indulging herself in anything since her mother passed away, and now that she was earning enough, a shopping spree could not hurt. While she giggled like a little girl planning a trip to Disneyland, her happy thoughts were disrupted by her doorbell ringing. Sitting up on her bed, it took her a moment to react to the unexpected guest at her door. Peeking through the peephole, Haruka froze on the spot.

What was Eisuke doing here?

"Mr. Ichinomiya, what a surprise."

"You took your time getting the door. This is a a very small apartment, you shouldn't have took so long."

"I'm sorry, I was in the bathroom," Haruka lied. "Do come in. Is there something you need? You could just call me, there's no need for you to come personally."

"Soryu suggested something that I thought wasn't a bad idea. I'm here to talk."

Forcing a smile, Haruka nodded in response and invited Eisuke into her apartment. This would be the first time her boss had ever set foot in her apartment. A little overwhelmed by his presence, Haruka was lost as to what she should do. She hurried into the kitchen and started boiling water while Eisuke 'explored' her apartment.

With the salary Eisuke paid her, he always thought she lived somewhere a little more...extravagant. He expected an apartment but he was thinking something more on the high end and something bigger. What he was seeing was quite the opposite. It was rather humble and something real estate agents would described as cozy. What he did expect, however, was how spotless the apartment was. Everything had its own place and not a single speck of dust could be spotted.

"You have a very small apartment," Eisuke said.

"I know. You said that twice."

"So if I raise your salary, you'd be able to own a bigger place. Is that what you're looking for, a raise?"

"I'm not really sure I understand, Mr. Ichinomiya?"

"This little six months charade of yours, it's just a tactic looking for a raise, yes? Or whatever it is you want, just say it."

There were many things Haruka did not like about Eisuke but she endured them all. So many times she came so close to exploding in his face but she held back. He was still her boss, and she still needed the job. But there was something about having support from Akira and finally admitting that she had enough that pushed her over the edge this time.

With a slam of her fist on the counter top, she unplugged the kettle before turning to face Eisuke.

"What I want,  _Mr. Ichinomiya_ , is time off. I want to be able to watch a movie when it comes out in theatre. I want to finish a book the day I bought it. I want to be able to sleep through the night without my phone ringing off the hook because you suddenly wanted to drink coffee.  _That's_  what I want."

"You're taking six months off for mundane things like watching a movie in theatre?"

"The last time I wanted to watch a movie, you called me to attend an event. That was five years ago and the movie is now out on DVD. I still haven't seen it. The last time I bought a book and tried to read, you jetted us off to America for a lunch meeting which I wasn't even required to show at. That book is still sitting on my desk, collecting dust. So yes, I want to take six months to do mundane things because they may be mundane to you, but they mean something to me."

"I thought you were better than this, Haruka. Perhaps I need to rethink about keeping around such a childish secretary."

"Perhaps you should. Might I also inform you, I have decided just now that I will not work overtime from now until my leave begins. Which means, since it's after hours now, please leave. I shall see you in the morning at eight."

Frustrated with how things went, Eisuke was not about to back down. Seeing this strong-headed, determined Haruka had him missing the meek girl whom he hired eight years ago. At least she would not dare to talk to him this way back then. He lost control of his secretary and now he had no idea how to gain it back. He was not going to let her have the satisfaction.


	3. Opportunities

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door"

- _Milton Berle_

It made no sense.

Eisuke was furious but what he could not understand was Haruka's motive behind her time off. Watching a movie and reading a book were hardly more important than what she did for him on a daily basis. Meeting people whom she would otherwise only read about in a magazine, typing up contracts for business worth millions, and getting to see another side of the world and people at the auction. Surely these things were more satisfying than a pathetic book was. What made the situation even more infuriating, however, was the fact that Haruka never came to wake him that morning.

True to her words last night, she did not turn up until eight. Even then, his cup of coffee was served by Yumi which put Eisuke in a worse mood. Everyone around him became wary of him the instant he came down from his suite; everyone but Yumi and Haruka. While the younger woman unknowingly served Eisuke his coffee, Haruka was blatantly ignoring her boss. Although she spent a good portion of the night high from standing up to Eisuke resulting in an adrenaline rush, another good portion was spent worrying about the consequences. She was on her phone for two hours, writing and deleting messages that were never sent to Eisuke in the end because no matter what she wrote it reminded her of how he got on her nerves.

As she was teaching Yumi how to work out the schedules for the day and to pick out important emails on the tablet, Haruka's phone buzzed. She ignored it at first but her attention was caught when she took a glance. The sender was a private number but it was the message that peaked her interest.

_If you are interested in new opportunities in life, come to this address._

_You know you are._

_I'll be waiting._

Because of the nature of her work, it came as no surprise that someone she might not know had her number. But this was a private number, another phone. This was a number only for those close to her; only family and friends had this number. She was more than acquainted with receiving prank calls and messages, but something in her guts was telling her that this was no prank.

"Cancel anything scheduled in for lunch today, I'm meeting with Emmett Lawson."

"Yes, sir," Haruka nodded, taking the tablet from Yumi and started rescheduling as instructed. "Would you like Yumi to come along? It would be a part of her training."

"Actually, I want just Yumi to come with. You can head on home once you've done your work."

The tension suddenly thickened in the room with Yumi caught in between the staring contest of Eisuke and Haruka. Neither of them moved (or even blinked) and nobody else knew what to say. Eisuke knew it was unlike him but after last night, he was trying to prove he did not need Haruka. He wanted her to see that if she was so willing to leave her job, he would not hesitate to replace her either. Feeling too awkward between the two, Yumi slowly took a step back only to have Haruka catching her by the elbow.

"In that case, I will print out Mr. Lawson's personal file for you later. There are several things you should look out for too."

Pulling Yumi to the side, Haruka casually went over anything she could think of to look out for during the meeting. It was not a reaction Eisuke expected from her, if he was being honest, though he never let it show in his expression. The Haruka before would have been worried over being replaced. She would have frantically asked Eisuke if she had done something wrong. The change in her now, however, Eisuke did not like one bit.

Haruka, on the other hand, was rather enjoying her newfound freedom. She had long forgotten what it was like to have lunch by herself, although she already had plans. While her logical self was nagging for her not to, curiosity got the best of her. She kept reading the text message over and over, scraping through the possibilities of who the sender was. The address attached was familiar, yet Haruka could not quite put her finger on it.

Still, after briefing Yumi, Haruka found herself standing in front of the coffee machine. Eisuke irritated her last night. The anger was still lingering whenever she remembered how he called her childish for wanting to do simple things. Simple things that everyone else took for granted but Haruka was never able to do. Out of spite, she came late in the morning and let Yumi serve Eisuke his morning coffee, knowing perfectly well that he would only drink her coffee. It was pity, but it was her own way of teaching him a lesson. Leaving the kitchen with a cup of coffee, Haruka placed it on the table along with a note.

_For Mr. Ichinomiya_

* * *

Arriving at the address stated on the text message, Haruka finally understood why it felt so familiar.

Back when Eisuke was planning the construction of his hotel, location was key. He had a few picked out and where she was standing now was one of the locations that Eisuke had his eyes on. But it was swooped from right under his nose by a real estate tycoon. Haruka knew, although he never showed, that Eisuke was disappointed to lose this piece of land. Seeing the apartment building standing right where Eisuke wanted to build his dream, somehow it irked Haruka.

"I knew you would come."

"Mr. Sagara."

Haruka greeted the man before turning around, coming face-to-face with Yosuke. Of all people who would send her a message to meet, Yosuke was the last person Haruka had in mind. They only met once at an event, through their only common connection Yonghua. Not to mention that the meeting itself did not go ideally.

"How did you know I was the one who invited you here?"

"I didn't. Not until I came, actually. This land was bought by a real estate tycoon, Mr. Kozaki Taki. Although a businessman much like Mr. Ichinomiya, there are only a few who are closely connected to Mr. Kozaki. And of those close connections, I have only met you."

"You didn't know who invited you and yet you came?"

On hindsight, it was most likely a bad idea for Haruka to come alone. She had no idea who sent the message, nor did she know the address (although she did somewhat recognise it). After so many years of working with Eisuke and learning to deal with so many different people and situations, Haruka's intuition had been fine tuned. Nothing about his message screamed danger when she first read it and she trusted her guts. Curiosity did not kill the cat this time.

"Is there a reason why you asked for me here, Mr. Sagara?"

"Please, just call me Yosuke. There's no need to be formal with me."

Gesturing to a car parked on the side of the road, Yosuke made his way over and got in the car. Too curious to back away from all this, Haruka followed suit. Getting into Yosuke's car was probably the biggest regret of Haruka's life. Not because he kidnapped her or assaulted her in any ways but because, his driving was atrocious. From the moment the car moved, Haruka clung onto the handle above her head. There were so many near misses with other cars that Haruka was starting to wonder if Yosuke was so bad that he was actually good. Even his parking felt like a roller coaster ride.

Glad to be alive, Haruka never took note of where Yosuke drove them to until arriving at the lobby.

_Tres Spades._

"Is this a joke, Mr. Sagara?"

"I told you to call me Yosuke. And I didn't think you would meet with me if I were to come to you," the man smiled. "Come with me."

Leading the way down a very familiar path, Haruka followed behind Yosuke to the hotel's bar. Coming back to the hotel with Yosuke somehow felt awkward, like she did not belong. Now that she off work, she was seeing a different side to the place where she worked. Only now did she notice there was a piece of Kisaki Ota's art hanging in the lobby.

Yosuke approached a booth as soon as they entered the bar and Haruka stood a distance away politely. From the corner of her eyes, she could see him talking to someone else before coming back to her. Without much explanation (very Eisuke-like), Yosuke pulled Haruka by the elbow and sat her down in the booth next to a man whom she instantly recognised, along with the other man on the other side. How could she forget the man who stole from Eisuke?

Kozaki Taki was a name Haruka would never forget. She had seen his face several times on the news and at events but they never interacted, nor did his path ever crossed with Eisuke's. From what she knew, Taki came from nothing. He was an ordinary boy from Hokkaido but somehow worked his way up to being one of the top businessmen in real estate in all of Japan. Men like him would only ever go down two paths; disregarded by the high society or well respected and feared by them. Kozaki Taki happened to be the latter. Haruka was intrigued to know how a man like Taki came to know Yosuke.

The man on the other side was someone Haruka was quite familiar with too; Murakoshi Takano. Eisuke had dealt business with him several times though it seemed like he was dabbling in real estate now. Eisuke always brought Haruka along on meetings with him because he had a reputation for liking pretty women. It seemed as if Yosuke knew that about him.

"They say you're the Golden Secretary, let's see what you're really made of," Yosuke whispered into Haruka's ear before leaving the bar.

"Haruka, what a nice surprise to see you here. I thought you work for Ichinomiya Eisuke?"

"I still do, Mr. Murakoshi. I'm here on personal reasons."

"Let's get down to business then."

Takano took out several folders, laying them out on the table. He opened each one, revealing details of different estates. As he went through the folders, there was one particular folder he skimmed through. Details for that estate was given but far less than the others. Haruka then looked to Taki, wondering if he noticed. Although listening to Takano, every so often Taki's eyes would drift in the direction of the neglected folder. Haruka smiled softly to herself, looking away as Takano concluded his presentation.

"So, Mr. Kozaki, which one are you interested in?"

"I'd let Miss Matsuoka choose."

"Pardon?"

Caught by surprise, Haruka stared at Taki for an explanation but she was never given one. Instead, he gestured to the folders and both men waited silently for her to choose. Haruka knew absolutely nothing about real estate. She barely knew anything about business in general when she started working for Eisuke. It was years of hard work and many nights of studying under Eisuke did she finally get to where she was today. Real estate, however, was still an untouched area for her.

Picking the folders up one by one, Haruka glanced through the details once more. It seemed to her that they were all good choices but the fact that Taki let her choose meant that there was only one correct answer; the only one he wanted. Keeping that in mind, she could not help but look over to the one folder Takano had been so actively avoiding. She picked up the folder and after a brief read through, she handed it to Taki.

"I'll take this one."

"B-but the others are so much better. Are you sure you wouldn't like another one?"

"The lady has chosen."

"I shall have the documents ready for you then," Takano said, putting away the other folders.

With a bow to Taki (and a scowl for Haruka), Takano left the two. Silence ensued as they both drank. Not sure why she was needed at such a meeting, Haruka was not sure either whether she could leave now. Setting his glass down, Taki turned to face her. "That was impressive," he said. "I knew you are famous for your skills as Ichinomiya's secretary but I never thought you would be this good. You have good taste in estates. How did you know this was the one I wanted?"

"I don't know a single thing about estates," Haruka admitted. "But I did know that you wanted it, and he didn't want to sell it."

"Do tell."

"He was talking up the other estates while only briefing mentioning this one. He even put the folder aside, hoping that you wouldn't choose it. You on the other hand, Mr. Kozaki, kept looking at the folder. You weren't paying attention at all to what he had to say about the others, you only wanted that one. My guess is, you came in knowing fully well the kind of estates he had on hand and you already had your eyes on it. Asking me to choose, however, was just a test."

"Yosuke was right, you are indeed impressive."

"Is there a reason why Mr. Sagara wanted me here?"

"I never asked. He told me he would be bringing you and to let you choose. He didn't say anything else, and I didn't think it necessary to ask. He also told me to bring you home."

For the second time of the day, Haruka arrived at the apartment building except she was entering the building this time. Following Taki into the elevator, they rode all the way up to the top and she was brought to a swimming pool. There, Yosuke was sat in his swimming trunks and a glass of drink in his hand. As soon as he saw them, he beamed with a big smile.

"How was she?"

"Just as you said, perfect."

"Amazing! I didn't think I would ever hear Taki complimenting someone like this," Yosuke smiled, giving Taki a pet on the shoulder before looking to Haruka. He lifted her chin and leaned in close. "You really are one brilliant woman, Haruka."

Catching Yosuke by the wrist, Haruka took a step back. "I appreciate the compliment, Mr. Sagara, but I must admit that I have absolutely no idea what you are trying to achieve here. In the message, you mentioned new opportunities. Surely you weren't thinking of poaching me to work for Mr. Kozaki, were you? Because if you were, I'd have to decline your offer. I won't work for anyone else but Mr. Ichinomiya."

Yosuke could not help but laughed at her assumption. Undeniably, Haruka was one of the most intelligent women he had ever met yet there was a certain charm about her naivety. Unarmed, she dared to come alone to a place she had never been before when a stranger asked. Even now, the only thing on her mind was working for Eisuke. Yosuke was discovering things Yonghua never told him about and he could not hide his excitement.

"You are one brilliant woman, yet you can be so clueless. Is work the only thing on your mind? The new opportunities I spoke of are not work opportunities. It'd be too much of a waste to just pass you on to another man so you can draft some documents for him. Oh no, Haruka, you're much more than that. You are going to be the perfect wife. Men would be dying to marry a woman like you. You could live a life of luxury and never have to work another day in your life, if only you'd let me help you."

To Yosuke's surprise, Haruka scoffed.

Since a young age, Haruka had been told many things because she was born a girl. From her mother, she learnt that as a woman, she would have no say in anything. Even if the man she loved abandoned their family, she should still stay loyal to him. Men throughout her life disregarded her as her opinions were worth nothing in their eyes. She was only ever meant to look good next to them. Even women in the same line of work thought of her as the odd one out. Why would they actually work hard when they were paid the same for not doing anything?

Eisuke was different. Not once had Eisuke ever seen Haruka as a trophy. While she was not the same Haruka eight years ago, Eisuke valued her opinions even then. Whenever she dared to speak up about something, he listened to her and even heed her advises when he trusted her enough. If she was uncomfortable, he would never force her to do anything. He saw her as a person, as an equal; albeit, their relationship now would say otherwise.

"You speak as if you really care about me, Mr. Sagara, despite the degrading words. You see me as nothing but a merchandise to sell to men who are disillusioned about the perfect wife when all they really want is a woman to show off. My dream is not to marry rich, but to focus on my career."

"And what makes you think that Ichinomiya Eisuke does not see you as a woman to show off?"

"Do not speak ill of Mr. Ichinomiya. I know him, and he is not the kind of person you present him as. I'm sorry to say, but I am not interested at all in your offer, Mr. Sagara. If you would excuse me, I'd be leaving now."


	4. Forsake

"Whatever changes there are in the world I hope you will never forsake me and I shall be happy"

- _Anne Somerset_

By the time the charade with Yosuke ended, it was dark outside. Seeing her apartment building in the distance, Haruka let out a sigh of relief. She was even more exhausted than her normal work days. She always thought it was tiring working for someone like Eisuke but after just half a day with Yosuke, she already felt that it was the most energy draining experience of her life. Why did her life have to be so full of energy consuming humans?

As she was nearing her building, Haruka stopped in her tracks. Parked on the road just next to her building was a very familiar car. She let out an internal groan, preparing herself to deal with the storm that was to come as she walked up to the car. Knocking on the window, Haruka put on a smile as she greeted her boss.

"You're late," Eisuke stated. "How dare you make me wait?"

"Well, for one, I didn't know you were coming," Haruka said, straightening herself.

Getting out of the car, Eisuke thrust a plastic bag to Haruka. Confused, she took the bag and peeked inside to see takeaway containers with  _C'est La Vie_  printed on. That was the restaurant Eisuke went to with Yumi that afternoon to meet with Emmett Lawson. The atmosphere at the restaurant was perfect; casual yet still classy. The food was delicious, so much so that even Eisuke had complimented the chef once or twice. It was a restaurant that Haruka always thought was perfect for a casual lunch meeting; the client would let down their guard a little with the informal setting yet still able to enjoy themselves.

Without a word, Eisuke made his way up to Haruka's apartment ahead of her and waited by her door for her. Awkwardly unlocking the door, Haruka allowed Eisuke into the apartment first. Setting down her handbag, she rushed over to the kitchen and put the takeaway aside to make a cup of tea for Eisuke. As she served him the tea, Eisuke raised an eyebrow at the drink.

"I don't have a coffee machine," Haruka confessed. "Or coffee, actually. Have you eaten? Would you like some of the takeaway?"

"Why would I want leftovers? I only brought it over because I know you like that restaurant."

Nodding her head, Haruka kept her words to herself. She used to be hurt with Eisuke's comments but she grew immune over the years, and learned along the way that this was Eisuke's unique way of caring. Reminded by her growling stomach that she had yet to have dinner, Haruka left to get the takeaway. It was only when she was taking out the container did Haruka notice something.

 _It was warm_.

Eisuke's meeting with Emmett Lawson was in the afternoon. If this was leftovers as Eisuke said, it would be cold. When she opened the containers, Haruka was met with yet another evidence that Eisuke lied. Three containers with her favourite appetiser, entrée, and dessert.

"Thank you, Mr. Ichinomiya," Haruka smiled, looking to the man who appeared nonchalant.

"For bringing you leftovers?"

"For bringing me leftovers."

* * *

Staring at the three set of suits laid out on his bed, Eisuke could not get rid of the frown plastered on his face. Undoubtedly, this was Haruka's routine. Every morning, she would pick out three different carefully matched set of suits for him to choose from. Somehow, the suits she picked out would always match Eisuke's mood for the day. This morning, however, was different.  _Very different_. From just a single glance, Eisuke could tell that the suits were not chosen by Haruka but rather, Yumi. A trivial thing to most, yet it was enough to irritate Eisuke first thing in the morning.

Coming out from his bedroom, Eisuke was met with yet another irritating sight. Standing in his living room with a tablet in hand was Yumi, not Haruka. He had nothing against the young woman; she was good in her own way. She just was not good in the way Eisuke wanted her to be. Sitting on the sofa, Eisuke listened as Yumi reported his schedule for the day though his attention was focused on the cup of coffee in front of him.

"What is this?" Eisuke interrupted.

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"What is this?" Eisuke asked once more, pointing at the coffee.

"Um...coffee?"

Seeing Yumi, her arms wrapped around the tablet timidly while staring at Eisuke with fear and confusion, yet somehow still had a look of determination reminded Eisuke of a young Haruka when she first started working for him. She too, started bright-eyed but clueless. Haruka knew nothing when she was hired. She was just a girl with a high school graduate certificate. Yumi had a decent resumé at least, but Haruka did not. No one in their right mind would have hired her, but Eisuke did because he did not need someone who could do everything perfectly; Eisuke could do it himself. He only needed someone who could do one thing right and Haruka did so flawlessly.

"When Haruka gets here, tell her to make me a cup of coffee."

"Oh, but Mr. Ichinomiya- Mr Ichinomiya!"

Chasing after her new boss, Yumi started panicking. Her morning had been hectic since the moment she stepped out of her apartment. Everywhere, she saw news of Haruka; on phones, on the news, in the newspaper. Yumi always wondered what it would be like to know a celebrity, this was not how she imagined it to be. All morning, the men in the penthouse lounge had been bombarding her with questions, like she would know what was going on. Truth be told, although Haruka was a nice person, Yumi only knew her for a few days.

Then there was the fear of keeping it from Eisuke. From what she had been told (mostly by Baba), Haruka and Eisuke had a close relationship. Yumi could see for herself too, that their relationship was much more than just employer and employee. Just a look from Eisuke and Haruka would instantly know what he was thinking about. They were so in sync that it was rather scary in Yumi's opinion. Which was why she was afraid of how Eisuke would react to the news.

As soon as they caught sight of Eisuke, the commotion in the lounge seized though it only made Eisuke suspicious. After all the years they spent together, Eisuke knew better than to let it slide when they would act like so. The last time something like this happened, it was because Baba messed up an auction item that would have cost them a fortune to cover. One could only imagine what it was this time.

"Have you seen the news, Boss?" Baba asked, earning a smack to the stomach by Soryu.

"What news?"

"It's about the kid," Mamoru said. "She's got herself into quite a scandal."

There was only one person Mamoru would refer to as 'kid': Haruka. With a cheeky smirk and a nod from Baba, Yumi reluctantly handed over the tablet to Eisuke. Several tabs of articles were already opened in the browser but they all had the same title with the same picture. Haruka sitting next to the real estate tycoon Kozaki Taki in his very own hotel bar. The headline read:  _Ichinomiya Eisuke betrayed! Has the Golden Secretary finally found a better man?_

The headline did not bother Eisuke. The fact that Haruka got herself into a scandal did not bother him either. What bothered him the photo. Haruka looked good sitting next to Kozaki Taki. The one particular article he clicked into talked about the potential of Kozaki Taki headhunting Haruka but all others were talking about potential wedding bells and that was bothering Eisuke the most. He never thought the day that Haruka would get involved romantically with someone else; he always assumed she would work for him until the day of his or her death.

"Where is Haruka now?" Eisuke asked, tossing the tablet.

"She took a half day leave," Yumi said, catching the tablet in her arms and breathed a sigh of relief. "She said she had some important matters to deal with and I'm pretty sure she said she was going to...kill someone."

~.~

To say she was furious was an understatement.

She never should have accepted Yosuke's invitation but curiosity got the best of her. She thought that curiosity did not kill the cat this time but she was wrong. Curiosity would  _always_  get the cat. After taking a half day leave, Haruka found herself standing at the apartment building that she visited just the day before. As she approached the building, the doorman opened the door and greeted her as if he had been expecting her. Then again, he probably did.

Taking the same elevator Taki took her on last night, Haruka soon found herself on the top floor. And just like last night, the residents of the top floor were all gathered by the pool but Haruka only had eyes for one. As she walked up to the group of men, Yosuke was the first to notice and stood up to greet her. Without warning, Haruka raised her hand and swung at Yosuke's face though he managed to dodge the slap by just a few inches.

"Feisty," Shun smirked, taking a sip of his drink while enjoying the show.

"It's nice to see you too, Haruka," Yosuke smiled, composing himself though he kept a distance between them just in case Haruka swung at him once more. "I see you've seen the news this morning?"

"You did it on purpose. You invited me out and put me in the hotel bar with Mr. Kozaki on purpose. You are despicable."

"Well, that wouldn't be a new word to describe Yosuke," Taki commented.

"You spoke so highly of Ichinomiya Eisuke that I got curious. What if his goody-two-shoes secretary betrayed him? How would the high and mighty Eisuke react?" Yosuke picked up an empty glass and poured some wine before handing it to Haruka. "Don't worry, it's not drugged or poisoned. I never imagined that you would be the one marching up here, to be honest. I was expecting the man himself. You didn't struck me as the violent type, not from your file."

Holding his hand out, Yosuke was handed a folder by Taki which he then presented to Haruka. Opening the folder, Haruka was met with information concerning her. The first page was a basic detailed profile of her; name, date of birth, height and weight, and even the hospital she was born in. The pages following was filled with information relating to her, including her family and some details that even Haruka herself did not know of. Yosuke ran a background check on her. Not even Eisuke did so and he had a shady underground auction she was involved in.

"Matsuoka Haruka, born on May 20, 1988 to Matsuoka Hanae at Tokyo General Hospital. You have two younger sisters, Haruko and Haruna. They are much younger also. Both of whom, however, living at a different address to the one you listed on your work application form. Your mother, unfortunately, passed away when you were sixteen and you started working part time in order to support your family at a maid café. Most popular maid, might I add. As soon as you graduated, you applied for several jobs but were rejected from all.

"That's when you met Ichinomiya Eisuke. Odd that of all those who interviewed, he picked the most unqualified one. Not as odd, however, as the fact that there is absolutely no information on who your father is. Either your mother did not know who your father was or, which is the theory I'm leaning towards, your father is a very powerful man. More so than all four of us plus Ichinomiya Eisuke combined. And from the face you are making right now, I think you know who he is. So here's the million dollar question, who is your father?"

"That's enough," Haruka said, her tone neither angry nor upset. There was no emotion attached to it. It was so cold that even Yosuke felt intimidated for a split second. "You think I would be afraid of you just because you ran a background check on me? Well, let me tell you something, Mr. Sagara. I've met scarier men than you and I've stared each and every one of them in the eyes without blinking. So no, I won't tell you who my father is."

Whenever Baba discovered something new about her, Haruka always said the same thing to him. 'It was not a secret'. She never mentioned her mother at work because it was not necessary. She never mentioned her sisters either because why would a man of Eisuke's caliber be interested in knowing her sisters? But all her life, Haruka had kept one secret. The only secret that she was hoping to bring to the grave just as her mother did.

She was not keeping the secret to protect him, however. Her father was an abusive man with no redeeming features whatsoever. She was keeping the secret because she did not want others to know that she was related to such a man. She was keeping the secret because he played no part in their lives and she wanted to keep it that way. Her life without him was not the best but at least she was happy.

As she finished her little outburst, Yosuke reached out with his hand and gently wiped away the tears that had been rolling down her cheeks. Slapping his hand away, Haruka turned her back to him and wiped her own tears. At the same time, her phone started ringing, saving Haruka from facing Yosuke.

"Matsuoka Haruka speaking. Alright, I'll be right there."

* * *

Arriving at the hotel and seeing the familiar setting washed relief all over Haruka. It felt comforting to be here. The buzzing of conversations, the squealing of playing children, all of it. Haruka could not help the smile as she looked from one corner to another at sights that were so familiar to her over the years as she walked over to the elevator, heading up to the penthouse.

As she pushed open the door to the lounge, Baba was the first to greet her as usual. "There you are! I've missed you, my ang-" Getting up from the sofa, Baba spread his arms as he always would and walked in her direction. Today, however, Haruka walked right into his arm instead of evading his hug. "Well, this is different." The moment she hugged him, Baba knew something was not quite right. "Are you...alright?"

Haruka was not sure whether it was the three words Baba asked, or because she was finally hugging someone she knew, but the tears from before returned. Her arms tightened around Baba as he did the same when he realised that she was crying. He was shocked, to say the least. The only time he ever saw her crying, it was at a party where a woman slapped Haruka out of jealousy but even then, her tears were so the woman would be kicked out of the party and her father would lose a business deal that Eisuke never wanted in the first place. These were real tears, and Baba was lost as to what he should do.

Coming down the stairs from his suite, Eisuke froze in the middle when he saw Haruka and Baba. His secretary had always been clear on boundaries, especially with Baba. The first time they met, Baba went for a hug and Haruka took a step to the side, resulting in Baba tripping and falling over a coffee table. Eisuke knew then that Haruka could deal with anyone and everyone.

"Haruka."

"Mr. Ichinomiya."

Pulling away from Baba, Haruka wiped away as many tears as she could before turning to face Eisuke. Her red eyes and nose, however, was evident of her crying and Eisuke instantly glared at Baba who already had his hands up in the air in defense. Eisuke knew Baba as well as Baba knew him. Baba would never do anything to hurt Haruka, not intentionally anyway. Forgetting what he called Haruka back for, Eisuke wiped away the few rogue tears left on her cheeks and took Haruka by her hand, leading her out of the penthouse.

Many times over the years, Haruka had been swept off by Eisuke to places without ever knowing where they were heading or what they were going to do. All these times, she would keep quiet in the car and try to figure it out for herself. This time was different, except Eisuke was driving himself. Sat in the passenger seat, Haruka stared out of the window on her side, not wanting to face Eisuke when her emotions were still boiling over and tears were still streaming down her cheeks.

In the first few months of working for Eisuke, Haruka was a crybaby. She cried during her interview, begging Eisuke to hire her. She cried on her first day of work, thanking Eisuke for hiring her. She would cry over spilled coffee or because Eisuke found a mistake in her draft documents. She cried when the bill allowing for casinos in Japan passed and Eisuke was able to go ahead with his plan for a casino hotel. That was the last time she cried in front of her boss because he told her that in order to make decisions when it came down to business, she would have to push her emotions aside. Was that why Haruka decided she had enough of him? Because Eisuke told her to suppress her emotions for all those years?

"Mr. Ichinomiya, I don't think I'm in the right condition for a meeting right now," Haruka said softly.

"What makes you think we're here for a meeting?"

"This is Mr. Nakano's mall. His office is on the top floor."

"We're not here to see Mr. Nakano."

"Then what are we here for?"

"We are here to watch a movie."


	5. Perfect Date

"The perfect date is the one where anything and everything goes wrong, but at the end of it, all you want is to see them again"

- _Dylan O'Brien_

The last time she was at the cinema, she was on a date.

Back during her school days, she was always too busy for dates. Her mother would always tell her to go out and enjoy her life as a teenager but Haruka could never do anything outside of her family without feeling guilty. Her mother was single with three children to raise while working three jobs just to put food on the table, she could never go to the theme park with her friends where she had to spend money while her mother struggled with babysitting and working.

Since their first year of high school, he had been stuck around her. Every morning, there would be a small carton of strawberry milk on her desk after she mentioned that it was her favourite once. He was the most charismatic player on the court, keeping his cool whenever the team was down by a few baskets, yet he would stutter and blush like he had been standing under the sun for a week whenever he was near her. He asked her out on a date and although she felt like she should not, Haruka said yes. That was the only date she ever went on.

Glancing to Eisuke beside her, Haruka was reminded of her one and only date. Apart from the fact that Eisuke had the ability to buy all the seats so they were the only ones there. She never thought about having a date since her mother passed away, and she had long since forgotten what it was like to be on one though her youngest sister was always pestering for her to. Was this a date?

"You're not concentrating on the movie," Eisuke pointed out. "Is this what you wanted to do on your six months leave? Sit in a dark room and not pay attention to the movie you said you wanted to watch for months?"

"How did you know?" Haruka asked. "That this is the movie I wanted to watch?"

"The unopened DVD on your coffee table."

Facing the screen, Haruka smiled softly to herself. Just half an hour ago, she was crying in Eisuke's car but now, she was enjoying a movie she had always wanted to watch. It was even better than she thought. The concept of the movie was something new; it was lighthearted and humourous yet at the same time, emotional and deep. The cinematic was breathtaking and the actors really brought the scenes to the audience as if they were right there too. Yet somehow, her mind was not on the movie at all. Eisuke always knew how to comfort her. Her favourite meal, her favourite dessert, and even watching a movie with her. Eisuke did it all.

When Haruka went quiet again, Eisuke turned his head slightly to steal a look from her. It was hardly believable that she was crying not too long ago. Whatever it was, however, seemed as if it had already slipped her mind. This was a plan Eisuke hatched after he had that argument with her in her apartment, though he never planned to use it so early on. When talking with her backfired, there were many suggestions from the other guys. Eisuke never thought he would live to see the day when he would take advice from Baba himself. Yet, here they were. When he saw those tears, however, Eisuke was not thinking any of that. He just wanted her to stop crying.

The movie itself was ridiculous, in Eisuke's opinion. Two strangers who would swap bodies after they went to sleep while trying to save a town from a meteorite strike was just not something that Eisuke could find himself liking. It was a situation that could never happen, it was illogical. But Haruka was enjoying it. She had a smile on the entire time, laughing at the jokes, and even teared up at the supposedly emotional scenes. If he was being honest, watching Haruka was a lot more entertaining.

"My mother used to take me to movies," Haruka whispered, though no one else was around to hear them. "On the rare off day she would get, she would take me to the cinema and let me choose a movie that I wanted to watch. She'd buy me a big bucket of popcorn too."

This was the first time Haruka ever spoke of her mother.

On her employee form, no family members were listed. Eisuke assumed they never existed and he never asked her, not that Haruka was avidly sharing stories about her family over the last eight years either. The way she spoke too, there was a certain gentleness in her voice that Eisuke never heard before. Despite spending eight years side by side constantly, Eisuke was starting to realise that he knew next to nothing about his secretary.

"Is that why you wanted the six months? To watch movies with your mother?"

"I suppose." Haruka went quiet, for the next few minutes. When she spoke again, her eyes were focused on the screen but Eisuke could see the sorrow in her eyes. "The last time I went to the cinema with my mother, it was on my fourteenth birthday. She passed away when I was sixteen and I've never set foot in a cinema until now. I guess...I was just making up excuses when I say work got in the way. The truth is, I just didn't want to come here alone because it would really mean that she's gone forever."

"I'm sorry."

Eisuke knew that feeling all too well. He was even younger than Haruka was when his mother passed away. He remembered crying every night for weeks after her death, curling up in bed and wishing to the stars that his mother would be in bed when he woke the next morning. There were things that Eisuke never did again because they reminded him of his mother. He was more fortunate than Haruka was, however, when Akira adopted him. But everyone had their own struggles.

Akira raised him as if he was his very own son. Eisuke saw him as a father too, though it was merely a name on paper. It was the name itself that burdened Eisuke. Nobody believed in him because Akira gave him everything he had. Eisuke had to make a name for himself, to prove that it was worth everything Akira provided him. Haruka had been by his side since Eisuke started planning to put his name out there, build his own empire. It did not feel right not having her there, which was why Eisuke was so reluctant to let her go.

"I'll give you permission to take that leave but you have to be back as soon as the six months has passed."

"You already gave permission when you signed the form, whether you remember or not," Haruka pointed out. "But I promise. I'll be back as soon as the leave ends."

"And train Yumi well before you leave. She's absolutely terrible."

"I don't think anyone would ever be good enough for you, Mr. Ichinomiya."

"You are."

Praises and compliments were never a part of Eisuke. Rather, he would never say words of praises directly but preferred to show his gratitude with his actions mostly. The first time she managed to help him seal a deal, Eisuke bought her a necklace. He bought her many other things and took her out for many meals, all to say thank you and job well done. This was the first time Eisuke was directly complimenting her. To say she was shocked was an understatement.

Unsure of how to respond, Haruka focused her attention on the movie instead and kept quiet for the rest of it. She had learnt to interpret Eisuke's harsh words over the years as indirect praises and she always found it endearing that he refused to say the words as they were. To hear it coming directly from his lips, however, it felt warming to the heart.

Neither of them spoke until the movie ended. Neither of them spoke as they were walking to Eisuke's car. In all the years they had known each other for, they never felt closer than they did now. Her mother used to say that every person they met in their life, they met for a reason. Haruka was grateful for meeting Eisuke, for the chance he gave her, and for everything else.

"She would have liked you." Eisuke turned his head slightly, frowning at Haruka's sudden statement. "My mother, she would have liked you," Haruka smiled. "She always said that she admired hardworking men. Men who work for their success, men who appreciate those who helped him work towards that success. Hardworking and gentle, that's what she always said."

"Your mother was a wise woman. Not sure about the gentle part, but wise."

"Very wise."

As they shared a smile, their conversation was interrupted by a phone ringing. Haruka dug around her handbag, pulling her phone out and stepped aside to answer the call. Eisuke stood by his car, glancing over to Haruka every so often to see if she was done with her call. He did not like the expression on her face as the call progressed. The call lasted for about five minutes before Haruka returned to the car, looking to Eisuke with a frown.

"I need to go."

"Where?"

"To...my sister. She's sick at school."

"Get in, I'll give you a ride."

Right on cue, another phone started ringing. This time, it was Eisuke's. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, frowning at the caller ID before stepping to the side as Haruka did to answer the call. His expression turned as serious as hers did and ended just as quickly. Putting his phone away, Eisuke unlocked his car and nodded for Haruka to get in, not saying a word regarding the call though his secretary knew better.

"Who was that on the phone?" Haruka asked, not moving an inch to open the door.

"Get in the car, Haruka."

"Who was it?"

Letting out a sigh, Eisuke slammed the door shut before looking to Haruka. There were many charming points about Haruka, but there were just as many traits that Eisuke disliked in her. She was stubborn, in more ways than one. She did not take no for an answer when she came for her interview, she never took no for an answer ever since. She had a mind of her own and was never afraid to speak it (not until after a year of working for him, however). She was persistent, irritatingly so. These were traits that Eisuke found handy when dealing with difficult clients because Haruka was more difficult. But when these traits were used against him, Eisuke absolutely hated it.

They were never leaving the parking lot if Eisuke did not answer her question. He could very well, however, just get in the car and leave Haruka behind but that was not how he was raised. "It was Emmett Lawson's secretary," Eisuke answered. "It seems like Southwell has made him a better offer to stay on as partners. I have an hour from now to make an even better deal."

"So let's head there now," Haruka said.

"Call Yumi to meet me at Emmett Lawson's office," Eisuke stated, opening the car door. "You get to your sister."

Not giving Haruka any choice in the matter, Eisuke got into his car and started driving off. He wanted her to come along but he could not find it in himself to be selfish this time. He never knew about her mother, he never knew about her sister. In his mind, Haruka always belonged to him. He thought they were similar; lone wolves who distanced themselves from family. She was there whenever he needed her and would get to him as soon as she could even when she was not.

But they were very different.

Eisuke always thought family was nothing more than just name on paper. That was what him and Akira were to each other; he carried the man's name but only on paper. He could abandon his family, just as Akira could abandon him easily. To Haruka, however, her family was the most important. He could see it in her eyes when she talked about her mother and when she answered that call. He could see the worry in her eyes, the anxiousness. That was why he let her go.

~.~

With Eisuke gone, Haruka made her way to her sister's school. She knew the place well, being an alumna. Her feet moved on their own and before she knew it, she was right outside the nurse's office. Stepping into the room, she could see her sister laying on the bed fast asleep. Kneeling by the side of the bed, Haruka stroked the girl's hair gently and when she could feel her gentle breathing, she let out a sigh of relief.

Haruna was the youngest of three sisters and she acted just like it. The day she was born, Haruka was there in the hospital with her mother. Haruna would not stop crying, not even when she was in their mother's arms. It was not until Haruka held her tiny hand did she finally stop crying. Since then, the eldest had doted on the youngest. Anything and everything that Haruka could do for her, she would. Her only fond memories of her childhood were that of with her youngest sister.

"You had me worrying about you, Nana," Haruka whispered, pushing Haruna's hair out of her face just to pinch her cheek hard. "But I think my worry was all for nothing, seeing as you are perfectly fine pretending to be asleep."

"Ow! That hurts!"

"Good. It'll teach you not to try and fool me next time." Getting up from her knees, Haruka sat on the bed while Haruna pushed herself up. "Your teacher told me that you threw up. What happened?"

"I was sick."

"Yes, and why were you sick all of a sudden?"

The silence and the avoidance of eye contact was all that Haruka needed. Haruna was never a good liar; not when she was a child, not as a teenager now either. Their mother used to say that Haruna was an open book. It was a blessing and a curse at the same time, though Haruka always found it useful when disciplining. Forcing Haruna to look her in the eyes, Haruka did not need to say a single word before the girl broke. Haruna was weak too.

"I may or may not have ate three bags of potato chips last night, staying up to watch my drama. And...I may or may not have ate a pint and a half of ice cream because I got a little emotional."

Letting out a sigh, Haruka closed her eyes and took in three deep breaths. It was a little trick her mother taught her whenever she was about to lose her temper. Since she could remember, her mother was always telling her that patience was a virtue. There was no point in losing her temper because the only person she was truly hurting was herself. She was worried when she got the call; since they lived separately, Haruka rarely got in touch. She always assumed that no news was good news.

Watching Haruka with nervous eyes, Haruna was scared of what was to come. Although, she could not remember a time when Haruka was truly mad at her. No matter what Haruna did growing up, Haruka never once lost her temper with her.

"Let's go home," Haruka said, picking up Haruna's things.

Walking down the streets was bringing back memories for Haruka. These were the exact roads she would take to and from school almost everyday. Nothing had changed since then. Subconsciously, Haruka turned down a familiar road that took them out of the way home. When a park was coming into view, Haruka stopped in her tracks and looked to Haruna. Both sisters stared at each other before simultaneously nodding their heads and headed for the park. Since it was still in the afternoon, the park was empty save for the sisters.

"You used to bring me here all the time," Haruna smiled, looking around the quiet park. "They built a new playground about three years ago though."

"About time. I was always so scared the chains on the swing would snap when I was pushing you."

"I loved when you picked me up from school back then, because you would always bring me here. And you would buy me ice cream too. I thought you hated ice cream too, because you'd always buy just one."

"I only had enough for one ice cream," Haruka laughed, reminiscing. She could still remember the look on Haruna's face when she asked for a bite of her ice cream once. "Of course I'd give it to my little sister."

"I missed you."

It was three simple words but they stabbed right into Haruka's heart.

She missed Haruna too, more than words could describe. Between work for her and school for Haruna, they barely had the time to see each other. Especially since she moved out. The only updates she would get on her sister were the uploads to social media sites. Haruna knew nothing about Haruka's life, however, because she always felt that there was no need to worry her little sister. Taking the six months leave was partly so she could be a part of Haruna's life again.

"Sleep over at my place tonight," Haruka said, pushing a stray strand of hair behind Haruna's ear. "Haruko is away on that trip of hers anyway, which is why you had the guts to eat all those potato chips and ice cream."

"That last part was really unnecessary. You could just say you missed me too, you know?"

"I missed you."

As Haruka planted a kiss on Haruna's head, the younger sister linked their arms together while changing directions as they continued walking. Haruka's apartment was a little farther away; she kept some distance between them but made sure that she could still get to them fast if there was an emergency. The sisters, however, took the extra time to catch up with each other and continue their reminiscing.

Finally reaching her apartment, Haruna was the one to notice a gift box by the door. While Haruka unlocked the door, the younger girl picked the card underneath the ribbon and opened it. "To Haruka, sorry for today. I hope you enjoy the gift. Is this from your boss, Haruka-nee? I thought he was an uptight jerk who needed to release steam more than a steam locomotive?"

"I never said that," Haruka stated, taking the card from Haruna. Judging from the card and the wording alone, she knew this was not a gift from Eisuke. "And my boss is not a discrete man, this is not his style."

Picking up the box, Haruka had a fairly good idea who the present was from. She brought it into her apartment and set it on the coffee table, not bothering to open it as she went about doing other business instead. Haruna, on the other hand, was curious as a kitten. She tugged at the ribbon, pulling apart the perfect bow and lifted the lid.

Inside the box was an assortment of items. "Is this from an admirer or a stalker? Everything in here is so weird," Haruna frowned, digging around the box. "Isn't this that really fancy tea from Singapore? Hey, you like Early Grey tea right, Haruka-nee?"


	6. Perfect Date 2.0

"Dating is really hard because everyone puts on a front. It's really difficult to see who is who, so it is important to be yourself"

- _Brooke Burke_

Receiving presents was nothing new to Haruka.

When she was younger, the only times she would get gifts were on her birthday and Christmas. Her mother would save up for half a year to get her a birthday present, then another half to get her a Christmas one. She never got the best nor the most expensive gifts but Haruka would still bring her presents to school and to show her friends. Since her mother passed away, the gifts stopped too. Until Eisuke, that was.

Her very first present (official) present from Eisuke was an anniversary gift. After a year of mistakes, Haruka somehow survived working for him and was still working for him. When he handed her the present, she initially thought it was yet another piece of jewelry for another event. In the box as she opened it, the first thing she saw was a small card with neat handwriting and one word on it. She recognised it as Eisuke's handwriting instantly but she was surprised to see what he had written.

 _Thanks_.

Just one simple word but it was enough to have Haruka smiling from ear to ear the whole day. Since then, Haruka started receiving presents like she did when she was a girl. And since meeting the rest of the gang, she was pampered with gifts. Mamoru would always get her a card and something simple like lotion. Ota would occasionally gift her some art pieces of his (that she could sell, as he so kindly stated). Baba was always over the top with his gifts, trying to splash out the extravagance and outdo the last time. Soryu's gifts were not always conventional but always thoughtful. Even Eisuke's clients would make the effort of getting her a birthday card, to get on her boss' good side of course. Despite all this, there was only one person's gift she always looked forward to.

The box sitting on her lap was from neither of those people. It was most definitely not from Eisuke; there was no reason for him to. Taking the lid off, Haruka went through the contents of the box once again. Every single item in it was something she liked, but only something someone would get her if they knew her well. Or if they had background checks on her done.

Arriving at the apartment complex, Haruka was getting sick of the place already. She never thought she would be back so soon (or at all), yet here she was, greeted by the same doorman as before. She had a bad feeling that she would be seeing this man more than she did Kenzaki. The elevator ride up to the top floor was agonizing. Her guts were telling her that Yosuke was doing this on purpose, that was the kind of man he was. Everything he did so far, was so she would say yes to his ridiculous proposal of finding her a man.

The smell of chlorine hit her as soon as the elevator door opened onto the top floor. Although a tiring place to be at, Haruka had to admit that this was still a spectacular residence. Eisuke put a lot of thought into his hotel, designing it with the guests and aesthetics in mind. He wanted it to be a place where they could be comfortable yet at the same time, keeping that standard for high society. That was exactly what Taki did with the complex. One could hardly tell the difference between this residence and a hotel if they did not know better.

"You're becoming a regular visitor, Miss Matsuoka," Taki greeted.

"Not out of interest," Haruka said, putting the box down on the table in front of the four men. "Unfortunately, my sister used the tea and ate the biscuits so I wouldn't be able to return those. If you'd like, I could pay for them instead. All of these were untouched so I'm sure you could return them for a full refund."

"They were gifts of apology. Or did you not like them?"

"You of all people should know that everything in this box is what I like. Including the dress that I put into my wish list just last week. I'd like you to know that despite your attempt at an apology, this is nothing but creepy. Bordering on stalking, really. And I would like to return them so there is no longer any strings attached between us."

"You just got dumped, Yosuke," Kiyohito commented.

Every time he saw her, Yosuke was more and more intrigued. Every and any woman Yosuke met, they would accept even just a single flower with the biggest smile. To make sure he made no mistake this time, Yosuke even searched how to properly apologise to a woman. Most of the results suggested getting something she liked and always wanted. Yosuke went the extra length of getting everything she liked and wanted. Yet here Haruka was, returning the gifts. He should have known that she was not like the other women; that was why he invested so much interest in her to begin with.

"Let's go on a date," Yosuke smiled. "I have one coming up, you should come along."

"Excuse me?" Haruka frowned.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Yosuke?" Taki asked. "You trust her?"

"I trust her."

~.~

Wearing the dress and shoes from Yosuke's gifts, Haruka found herself sitting at a table with Yosuke and two others. When he said he had a date and asked her to tag along, she thought Yosuke was into polygamy. Never could she ever imagine Yosuke as a man who would do double dates, however. Though, the first thing Haruka noticed about the atmosphere between them was that, this was no ordinary date. The setting was formal and romantic, very first date-esque. It was something Haruka would expect from those in high society. The one thing that jumped out at Haruka, however, was the woman.

The dress she wore was new. So was her shoes and every piece of jewelry on her. But that was not abnormal, since every girl Haruka knew dressed up for their first dates and only on subsequent dates would they dress more casually. What caught her attention was how the woman was  _acting_  comfortable. The way her legs were crossed, the placement of her hands, and even the way she brushed her hair behind her ear felt robotic. As if someone was telling her how to behave.

"Sorry for the intrusion but I thought we could do something a little different today," Yosuke smiled. "A double date."

"I always trust you, Yosuke. And how could I be upset with such a beautiful lady? Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"She's not your date.  _She_ is," Yosuke said, gesturing to the other woman.

Haruka could feel the death glare from the other woman though she was used to such looks. Working for Eisuke had its perks and losses; jealous women was just a small part of it. She was far too busy to ever deal with these women, though she had taught a few of them some lessons. This time, she would rather focus on working out just exactly what Yosuke was trying to play.

As the date progressed, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The other man talked mostly, with the woman laughing along at his jokes a little too much for Haruka's liking. Yosuke kept to himself, watching rather than participating. His eyes would flicker from the other woman to Haruka and back. So did the other man's. It was no wonder, his interest in Haruka. Even from their brief interaction, Taki had nothing but praises for Haruka. Both Shun and Kiyohito agreed that she was stunning and there was something intriguing about her, something that made them want to know her more. She would have gone for a fortune if she agreed to Yosuke's proposal. She could have gotten anything and everything he ever wanted. Unfortunately, she refused.

"Thanks so much for the introduction, Yosuke," the man smiled, shaking Yosuke's hand as the date ended. "This is the information you wanted. As appreciation." Passing on a USB through the handshake, Yosuke was shocked for a moment. "Are you sure she's not available?" he asked, his eyes glancing in Haruka's direction. "It's such a shame, really. I'd be willing to give you anything for her."

"She's not available," Yosuke confirmed, putting the USB in his pocket before the man changed his mind. "I'll see you again next time."

Payment for his introductions was not always monetary. Out of appreciation and satisfaction, they would give what Yosuke what he wanted the most from them. Information. They were not always willing to give him what he wanted. They would even withhold what Yosuke really wanted. He already knew with Haruka, he could get anything he wanted. Though, he did not expect that just a simple meeting with her (where she was not the man's date) was enough to bring Yosuke what he wanted the most.

Seeing the looks between Yosuke and the man, along with the handshake, Haruka sensed that this date was not just a simple introduction between friends. Looking back to the woman, Haruka had an idea of what this was. She finally understood why the other woman seemed so out of place. Just like Haruka, the woman did not belong to high society. Her best guess was an office worker looking to get lucky with a rich man and Yosuke was her ticket into the high class world. This was not a date, it was a meeting for an arranged marriage.

Although unsure of the legality, it was still bad PR for Yosuke if words were to get out about this business of his. That was why Taki questioned his decision to bring Haruka along for this. And Haruka would have to agree with Taki. She was involved in shady businesses herself, too many to count. Over the years as his secretary, there were many things that Haruka had to do for Eisuke, some of those behind his back. But she signed a contract with Eisuke, she had to seal her lips regarding his business. Not to mention her loyalty to him. She had none of those with Yosuke, yet he trusted her. All so she would say yes to him.

"I've said this before but I'll keep saying it. You are one amazing woman," Yosuke smiled, dangling the USB in front of Haruka. "He wouldn't give this to me but one meeting with you and he gave it up. You weren't even his date. My offer still stands, are you sure you aren't interested?"

"Do you really think they'd be happy?" Haruka asked, looking Yosuke in the eyes.

"I'm only responsible for the introduction. Whether they fall in love or not is up to them. No one is forced to do anything they don't want to."

"I'm not talking about falling in love. I'm asking if she'd be happy pretending to be someone she's not."

It was a question out of the blue catching Yosuke off guard. This business of his was started because it benefited him. The happiness for the couples was secondary though he was not responsible for that. He always thought it was a win-win situation: woman finds love in rich man, rich man gets the perfect wife, and Yosuke gets what he wanted from rich man. He never caught up with any of the previous couples he set up. He knew that quite a handful of them were married but whether it was a happy marriage, Yosuke had no idea.

"How painful must it be for her, having to pretend to be someone she's not so she could be loved."

Her voice was soft but Yosuke could hear the pity and sorrow in her tone, as if she went through it herself. "I don't know if they would be happy together. I don't even know if they would be together and it's not my job to make sure of that either. All I'm doing is giving them a chance."

"He wouldn't choose her even if I weren't here," Haruka stated.

"And why not?"

"She ordered lobster."

The first time Eisuke brought her to a restaurant much like the one they were in, he taught her the etiquette and the unspoken rules. He taught her to order anything she liked the sound of, even if it ended up being something she did not like. It would give away the fact that she was not a part of their world and leave the impression of ignorance, especially if she were to order the same as everyone else. Dressing up was inevitable, ordering a non-messy meal was not. Lobsters would give the impression of refined taste, but who would deal business with a man who would de-shell a lobster for his secretary because she had a manicure?

Who knew that Eisuke's advise for lunch meetings could also come in handy for dates?

There were many things the other woman did that turned her date off, but Yosuke knew it would go south the second she ordered the lobster. Haruka was sharp to have caught that. Despite the bad impressions he seemed to be leaving her, Yosuke was loving their meetings as he discovered more and more of her. What a lucky man Ichinomiya Eisuke was, to know her on such a deep level. Yosuke caught himself by surprise with the dashing thought.

Lucky man? Why would Yosuke be envious of Eisuke when Haruka was nothing more than merchandise to him?

"If you're done playing your games, I have a job to get back to," Haruka said, standing up. "A word of advice for you, Mr. Sagara. When apologising, perhaps try not to Google search for your answer. Gifts mean nothing if you do not mean your apology. Sometimes, it's just 'I'm sorry' we want to hear." As she turned on her heels to leave, she looked over her shoulder one last time. "Oh, and thank you for the lovely lunch."

* * *

The last few days had been hectic for Haruka. Too hectic. There was training Yumi, having to deal with Eisuke's tantrums, and having to deal with Yosuke's antics. It had been so hectic that Haruka felt as if she had aged ten years from just the week she had. With Haruna healthy and back in school, Haruka was thankful that some order had been restored to her life. That six months leave could not come any sooner.

"How do you do this, Miss Matsuoka?" Yumi asked, her head resting on the pile of documents in front of her.

"Do what?"

"This job. Mr. Ichinomiya." Shooting up from her position suddenly, Yumi's eyes were widened and she had her hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean  _do_  Mr. Ichinomiya, I meant handling him. I meant! Um...like you know, dealing with his everything. Oh my God, why does everything sound so sexual when I say it out loud? I just mean-"

"I know what you mean," Haruka laughed, sitting Yumi down with a gentle pat on her arm. "I know Mr. Ichinomiya can be a handful. Believe it or not, I started off much worse than you. I was making typos here and there on documents. I nearly charged one of our clients double the price because of an extra zero on the contract. It took me the entire night to try and do Mr. Ichinomiya's tie. And I didn't even succeed in the end. I used to pour coffee on him and all his paperwork because my hands would be shaking. But you learn along the way. Granted that I had more time to learn what I know now but that's why I asked you to start early, so I can train you. I'm sure you'll be able to handle Mr. Ichinomiya on your own just fine."

Yumi thought she had struck the lottery when she received the letter informing her of her employment with Ichinomiya Group. As Ichinomiya Eisuke's secretary nonetheless. She was so excited on her first day that she bought new clothes and makeup. She admired Haruka from the moment she saw the woman. She exuded the exact aura Yumi thought the secretary of Eisuke should. She watched in awe the way Haruka worked, commanding an entire hotel on behalf of Eisuke and solving every problem that came at her calmly. Yumi thought,  _this should be easy_.

But she was wrong. So wrong.

While Haruka was everything Yumi wanted to be, working for Eisuke was everything Yumi thought it was not. He was a terrifying person to be around, the way he would scowl at her whenever she did something wrong. In the week she started working, it got Yumi wondering how Haruka was able to stand the man for eight years. She finally understood why someone would want such a long time away from work too.

"Let's take a break. I'll treat you to lunch," Haruka smiled. "I'll tell you the secret to handling Mr. Ichinomiya."

As happily as they left for lunch, the two women returned two hours later with their arms linked and giggling. Still engrossed in their conversation, it was not until she was sitting down did she finally notice a present waiting for her on her side of the desk. Along with the present was a small card with only one line written on it:  _For your time alone_. Unlike Yosuke's gift box before, this was definitely a gift from Eisuke. Unwrapping the present, it was a book. The title of the book, however, had Haruka's blood boiling.

 _How To Serve My Boss Better...FOR DUMMIES_.


	7. Ignorance

"Ignorance is always afraid of change"

- _Jawaharlal Nehru_

Smoothing out her hair before tying a ponytail, making sure there was no crease on her blouse, and one final spritz of her perfume.

Yumi never thought she would find work so soon after graduation. She knew so many seniors who struggled to find a job, settling for one eventually that matched none of their criteria. Those with whom she graduated too, there was a handful still struggling. She was lucky to come across the employment ad. She applied for it and many others, not carrying high hopes of getting any of them. And just as she expected, all of them came back a rejection. All but one.

_Ichinomiya Group_

When she saw the two words printed on the envelope, Yumi prepared herself for yet another rejection. This was an exclusive company, many wanted in but many were rejected. Yumi was neither special nor did she have connections, why would she be chosen? Her interview did not go as well as she hoped for it to be either. She went through it like they taught in school, giving robotic and generic answers. She kicked herself in the heel as soon as she left the building, cursing her mind for going blank throughout the interview. Then, there was a miracle.

Somehow, for some reason, she was hired.

The letter was a notice for her to start work next week. She could barely sleep that night, reeling in the high from how unbelievably lucky she was. She spent the next week shopping for new clothes, looking up anything available on the  _Tres Spades_  hotel and Ichinomiya Group. She even looked up Youtube videos on how to be a good secretary. She knew going in she was just a replacement for six months but she wanted to do well no matter how short the employment was. She was confident she would do well too. Until she met  _her_.

Matsuoka Haruka. The Wonder Woman, the Golden Secretary. That was what they called her.

Yumi had seen her on the news many times, and she was always by Eisuke's side. She was most definitely a woman to admire. Rumour had it that Eisuke was difficult to work with, hiring and firing secretaries during his earlier years like he was changing clothes. All but Haruka failed. It got Yumi wondering what was so special about her that Eisuke kept her around and was unwilling to let her go.

In the short week she worked with Haruka, Yumi understood why. The  _Tres Spades_  hotel became one of Japan's top hotels, if not the best, and Eisuke trusted Haruka solely to help him operate his sole success thus far. Ichinomiya Group was definitely one of the most influential companies around and Haruka was put in a position where she was practically running the company. If Yumi was put under so much pressure, she would have collapsed on day one. But Haruka did not.

Every single problem that came at her, she would calmly solve. And with a smile too.

"Penny for your thought?" Haruka hummed, putting a cup of tea in front of Yumi. "It's chamomile, it should help you relax a little. I know how hard it is working for Mr. Ichinomiya."

There was always that person in class, the perfect student. The one who would hand in the best assignments, get the best grades, had the best looks. The one person whom everyone secretly hated because they wanted to be like them but could not. Haruka was that person. But she could not hate Haruka. Not when she would greet her with a smile always, checking to make sure that she was not too stressed. Haruka was perfect in every way that Yumi was frustrated she was not.

"Do you ever worry that I might replace you completely?" Yumi asked.

"I'm sorry?" Haruka tilted her head slightly, a confused look on her face. It was a rather rude question, Yumi would admit, but she was curious. This was almost anyone's dream job. It paid well and the boss was good looking, one of the most powerful men in Japan. If Yumi had to leave the job for as long as Haruka wanted to, she would be worried.

"Are you not worried at all?"

"Do you think you can replace me?" Haruka asked. Yumi did not. She knew she did not have the skills nor the charisma to ever fully replace Haruka. It was just bizarre how confident someone was in themselves as Haruka was. "If I lose my job, then I lose it," she said. "If you can replace me, that means you are good enough to. And if Mr. Ichinomiya does not need me around, he would not keep me around."

And if there was anything more bizarre than Haruka's confidence in herself, it was the relationship between her and Eisuke.

On the surface, they looked just like an ordinary pair of boss and secretary. Haruka picked up calls, set up meetings, and handed documents for him to sign. Eisuke was a businessman relying on a capable secretary. Though, even Yumi who only worked with them for two weeks could tell that there was something more than a work relationship going on between them. The only people who did not seem to know, however, were Eisuke and Haruka themselves.

Some would argue that it was simply they had spent such a long time by each other's side, they were bond to be close in one way or another. Yumi disagreed though. The interactions between them, the things they would do for each other, Yumi would never have done for her brothers nor her close friends. Neither would they for her. Or at least, not to their extent.

It seemed innocent enough to have the secretary picking out the peas one by one because her boss did not like them, but it made no sense for the boss himself to pick out the peppers for his secretary. Eisuke was significantly taller than Haruka was, even with heels on, and had much longer legs. Yet, he would walk in smaller strides so it would not be a hassle for her to keep up. Whenever Haruka was struggling to walk because of her (ridiculously high) heels, Eisuke would offer his arm subconsciously. Her boyfriend would have just told Yumi to take the heels off.

"Miss Matsuoka, do you believe in soulmates?"

"I believe in the idea of soulmates. I don't think that anyone in this world is made specifically to compliment another."  _You and Mr. Ichinomiya_ , Yumi thought but she kept her lips sealed. "I think it's just comforting for us to know that there is someone out there who is perfect for us. No one wants to spend their life thinking that there is nobody out there who would understand why they are the way they are."

"Do you think you've found your soulmate?"

"I don't think so. Even though Mr. Baba tells me everyday that I'm his soulmate," Haruka laughed.

"Don't you want to fall in love with the perfect person to fall in love with?"

Yumi's question seemed to have struck something within Haruka as her expression fell. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she stared blankly at the keys. "Is there really such a thing as the perfect person to fall in love with?" Haruka asked. "You think they are perfect but that isn't always the case, is it? Their bad sides start to come out but you still try to convince yourself that they are still the same person you fell in love with. Even when they fall out of love with you, you still try to keep the illusion. All you end up with is hurting yourself and your family."

"Miss Matsuoka?"

It was an innocent question. Or so Yumi thought. The way Haruka reacted was a little scary, to be honest. As she spoke, her hands scrunched up into fists and she was clutching them so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes started reddening and tears were swelling. Her tone of voice changed too. It was not her usual bright and polite tone but rather, it was full of anger and resentment.

"Miss Matsuoka?"

"I'm sorry," Haruka smiled, snapping out of the little unusual moment. "I've been meaning to tell you this but please, just call me Haruka. There's no need to be so formal with me, we're colleagues and friends."

"Are you okay, Haruka-san?"

"Perfectly fine. Let's get on with work."

* * *

Yumi hated the days when Haruka were not there. From what she heard (from Baba), Haruka used to come to work at the early hours but since Yumi started working, she would start late in the day and leave early too. While they were all too scared to tell Eisuke to his face, everyone thought Haruka made the right decision and it was about time she got some rest. Yumi, on the other hand, got a taste of what her life would be like once Haruka went on that leave instead.

When Haruka called in to say that she would come in to work later than usual that day, Yumi prepared herself for the worst when she broke the news to Eisuke. Irritation was obviously visible on his face though it was surprising to see Eisuke keeping it in this time. He did not say a word but simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Take lunch off. You don't have to come with for the meeting."

"But Haru-"

"Am I your boss or is Haruka?"

"I understand, Mr. Ichinomiya."

If Haruka was here, she would have taken Yumi out for lunch and treated her to something good. With her only lunch buddy not around, Yumi looked at her phone with a sigh. After seeing what a relationship could be like, she really did not want to call him out but having lunch by herself seemed a little pathetic.

Kenta was not a bad man. He was not the perfect man, he was average. They met back in university where Yumi studied Mass Communications while Kenta was in Computer Science. Yumi found him adorable during the group speed dating event she was forced to join. He was awkward and he talked about a lot of things that Yumi did not understand. But he was the only guy who did not try to lay a hand on her and offered to walk her home because it was late (he paid for her taxi instead when Yumi refused). Two weeks later, they started dating.

Nothing was wrong with their relationship at all, Yumi was happy with it. But if there was something she had to complain about, it was the fact that Kenta was not romantic. Every Valentine's was the same. Every birthday was the same. Everyday was the same. It was as if they skipped right past the honeymoon period that one was supposed to have and became an old couple.

"What do you want to eat?" Kenta asked, walking by her side.

"Whatever, I suppose."  _We'll just end up eating ramen anyway_ , Yumi thought.

"How about ramen? I know a place around here."

Letting out a sigh, Yumi turned to look at Kenta when she spotted Haruka across the street. "Haruka-san?" Pushing Kenta to the side for a clearer view, Yumi frowned when she saw a man next to Haruka. He was tall and good looking.  _Really_  good looking. She did not recognise his face from Haruka's file which meant he was not a business associate of Eisuke's. Was he a friend of hers?

Although she wanted to follow after, the restaurant they went into was too high end for Yumi to afford. After lunch with Kenta, Yumi went back to the hotel alone. All the way back, she was bumping into people and streetlights, too deep in her thoughts to even apologise. Could it be that she was wrong about Haruka and Eisuke? There was no denying their chemistry but was it possible that she read too much into it? She was pulled back to reality when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Miss Miyazawa?" Kenzaki greeted her with a smile before presenting her with a bouquet. "Could you please pass this onto Miss Matsuoka? This came just a moment ago but I don't think I'd get to see her today to give it to her."

"Yeah, sure," Yumi nodded, taking the bouquet.

Heading up to the penthouse, Yumi was curious to know who would send such a big bouquet to Haruka. It was no surprise that a woman like Haruka had admirers; this was not the first time Yumi received flowers on her behalf after all. But it was always roses before. Roses of different colours but roses nonetheless. It was as if men knew no other flowers but the rose itself. Even so, Yumi was a little jealous. Kenta would only get her a single rose for Valentine's.

This bouquet, however, was very different.

Whoever it was sent Haruka pure white peonies. With her mother being a florist, Yumi grew up learning the meaning of flowers. She spent way too many of her summers arranging bouquets to know when a boyfriend wanted to apologise to a girlfriend for something stupid they did. White, however, was not the colour most people would go for, especially not for an apology. It mostly meant humility but it could also stand for regret.

"Oh my, our Yumi-chan is popular. And here I am, thinking that I could have a chance with you."

Taking the liberty of arranging the flowers in a vase for Haruka, Yumi was deep in thoughts when she was interrupted. Baba came into the pantry, twirling his hat on his finger. Haruka had warned her about the other residents in the penthouse on her first day and Yumi assured her that she would be able to handle them. Baba left the strongest impression of them all, mainly because he introduced himself rather flamboyantly and ended their first meeting with a kiss on the hand. She had seen how Baba would flirt with Haruka too, and how she would evade his advances effortlessly. That was the attitude Yumi decided to adopt too.

"It's for Haruka-san," Yumi explained.

"Ah...well, Haruka has always been popular," Baba smiled, walking up to Yumi to take a better look at the arrangement. "Oh? It's peony?"

"Is that strange?"

"Hm...not so much," Baba shrugged. "But it looks like the Boss might have a rival."

If she was being honest, Yumi was surprised. She thought the other men were just as dense as her boss was when it came to the relationship between Haruka and Eisuke. They always acted nonchalant to the very obvious chemistry and tension between the two.

When he caught Yumi's eyes, Baba chuckled. "Did you think we wouldn't know?" he hummed, leaning in to sniff the flowers as he looked to Yumi. "I think Haruka and the Boss are the only two people in the world who doesn't know," he grinned. "Although they are both smart people, they can be quite dense in this department." Yumi would have to agree with Baba; they were dense.

"Ah...it's just so frustrating watching them."

"Who knows? I think it's fun," Baba smiled.


	8. Celebrate

"You have to celebrate the good days because there are brutal days that make the good ones sweet"

- _Brian O'Driscoll_

"...Haruka-san?"

Having trying to get her attention for the last twenty minutes, Yumi finally succeeded when she was waving just inches away from Haruka's face. Whether it was a normal occurrence for her, Yumi was starting to notice her senior spacing out every so often nowadays. Sometimes, she would be standing in the pantry waiting for the water to boil but she never pressed the button. Other times, she would be frozen in front of her computer as if she was trying to think of how to type the same document she had written for eight years. Most of the time, however, she would be how she was now; sat at her desk with her phone in her hand.

"I'm sorry," Haruka smiled, snapping out of her trance. "Did you need something?"

"Just for you to check over these," Yumi said, handing over several files. "Are you sure you're okay, Haruka-san? If you're feeling unwell, I could let Mr. Ichinomiya know and you could head home early?"

"I'm fine, sorry for spacing out."

With one last look to her phone, Haruka put it aside and got right back to work. Not meaning to snoop, Yumi caught sight of what Haruka was looking at before her phone automatically locked. It was an article on a local family restaurant. Yumi did not have much time to read the article though the title of it suggested something along the lines of the restaurant closing. Curious, Yumi searched the title of the article when Haruka went into Eisuke's office.

She brought up the same article from Haruka's phone, skimming through it. From what she read, the restaurant was closing after forty-six years because business was not as good as it used to be and the restaurant owner could no longer afford the rent due to the ridiculous increase by the unreasonable land owner. With a little digging of her own, Yumi found out that the land the restaurant sat on (along with several other shops) was one of the many plots developers had their eyes on. The land owner, eager to make some money, decided to drive off his tenants so he did not have to pay them compensation. Hence, the ridiculous rent that eventually shut down the restaurant business. But the question here was, why was Haruka concerned with this particular restaurant? Was Eisuke one of those interested in the land?

A knock on her desk snapped Yumi back to reality. A reality where her boss was standing directly in front of her. Scrambling on her feet and knocking over chair in the process, Yumi smiled weakly at Eisuke. He looked to her computer screen and raised an eyebrow. "Get the car ready. We're heading out in five minutes."

"Oh, but what about Haruka-san?"

"Is Haruka your boss? Must you have her permission before you go anywhere with me?" There was only response Yumi knew would be right. Which was why she shook her head. "Haruka has other things to do here in the hotel. And you have three minutes left."

Although he never liked the idea of another person sitting next to him in place of Haruka, Eisuke was coming to accept Yumi in a way. Her presence was not as irritating as it used to be, at the very least. Still, car rides to and from places were still rather uncomfortable for him. With Haruka, she would have struck up a conversation of some sort. Most of the time, she would be going over the meeting they had just been though there were times when she would talk about unrelated subjects and he would ridicule her for bringing them up. With Yumi, however, there was just silence. Half of Eisuke believed that she was too afraid of him to ever speak to him out of work, but the other half believed that she just did not want to talk to him.

Times like this, Eisuke admired Haruka's skill to be able to socialise with almost anyone.

Business aside, he always thought it was impressive how she managed to put up with the other residents of the penthouse when Eisuke himself could barely deal with them most of the time. She was nice to all of them, no matter the kind of chaos they would cause her. She would be stern with them when need be, but they still loved having her around. Eisuke knew that there were times the others preferred when he was not around. And with Yumi, Haruka was patient and caring. She took the young woman under her wings almost instantly. Most people Eisuke knew would not treat the person replacing them with such kindness. To the point where Eisuke could see Yumi treating Haruka like her idol, admiring her every move and word.

"Oh?" As they got out of the car, arriving near their destination, Yumi let out a little exclamation. All morning, she had been looking this place up. Particularly the restaurant that was just a few minutes down the street. Looking to see where her eyes were transfixed, Eisuke too recognised the restaurant from when he looked at Yumi's computer.

"Is something wrong?" Eisuke asked.

"Huh? Oh, no. It's just, Haruka-san was really affected by the article about that restaurant there," Yumi said. "Maybe it's a place she wanted to try? But they're closing soon because the land owner increased the rent almost five times so he doesn't need to pay compensation when he sell to developers. It's disgusting, how heartless some people can be for money."

"Let's go."

* * *

"Hap-"

As soon as she walked into the penthouse, Yumi was met with confetti to the face and the smell of animals. Her eyes widened a little at what seemed to be a petting zoo right here in the penthouse living room though Baba greeted her with disappointment instead. "What is going on here?" Yumi asked, carefully navigating the room so as not to accidentally step on a rabbit. She screamed when something rubbed against her foot and hopped all the way to the sofa where Mamoru caught her before she collided into the coffee table. "I-Is that a snake? What the hell is this?"

"Man...I wasted another confetti popper. I only have one left now, where is Haruka?"

"Maybe you should see who walks through the door first before setting off the poppers?" Ota sighed, holding a sleeping puppy in his arm. "And to answer your question, our dear Miss Replacement, this is Baba's unique way of celebrating Haruka's birthday."

"But this is a petting zoo," Yumi frowned, sitting on the couch with both of her feet up while holding Mamoru firmly in front of her. "And that there is a snake! Why would Haruka-san like any of this for her birthday? Haruka-san isn't coming into work anyway."

"What?! She's not?! Why not?!"

When something touched her, Yumi let out another scream. Picking up the chameleon just behind her, Mamoru set the reptile on the coffee table. "Mr. Ichinomiya told her not to come in," Yumi said, finally calming down though Mamoru was not liking the grip she had on him. "He cancelled everything for the day too. Said he had something important to do instead."

~.~

Birthdays to Eisuke was just any other day. With those he considered his friends back at the penthouse, he would get them a simple gift (or Haruka would help him to). Then perhaps, he would say 'Happy Birthday' to them if they met but otherwise, he would get on with his day as usual. That was how he would 'celebrate' Haruka's birthday too with the only exception being that he got her gift personally. Since meeting Baba, however, it became a custom to celebrate her birthday with a party. Although over the top, Eisuke did not mind the parties as much because they made Haruka happy.

This year, however, he decided to do something special for her.

Arriving at a quiet street, Eisuke parked just outside what looked like an unopened shop. Following after her boss without much hesitation, they walked into what looked like a restaurant preparing for their grand opening.

"I'm sorry but we're not opened for business just yet."

Upon hearing the voice, Haruka let out a soft gasp. Coming out from the kitchen was an old woman with an apron around her waist. Her hair was white all over and she looked to be much older but Haruka instantly recognised her. When their eyes met, both Haruka and the woman broke into smiles and walked into each other's arms, embracing the other tightly. Breaking from the hug, the woman brushed Haruka's hair out of the way and held her face tenderly like a mother would.

"Look at you, you've grown into such a beautiful woman," she smiled.

"Why are you here?" Haruka asked, wiping away the tears that she could not control. "I thought your restaurant was closing?"

"It was," the woman nodded, sitting down at a table and pulled out the chair next to her. "But this young man came to me one day and told me that I could move my business here instead. It was fully renovated and ready for business when I came to see it. He even said I could operate rent free, with the only condition being that I have to make my beloved Haruka happy on her birthday."

Looking to Eisuke, Haruka could not help the big smile and continuous tears. Pulling a chair out, Eisuke sat on the other side of the table nonchalantly. When Yumi mentioned the restaurant with Haruka's name, he got curious. He did a little digging around himself on the restaurant when a particular name jumped at him.  _Matsuoka Riko_. She was listed as an employee at the restaurant quite a few years ago and it seemed as if that was the only connection between the place and Haruka.

"My mother worked for Chihiro-san," Haruka smiled, holding the woman's hand tightly. "But she was always more like a grandmother to me."

"There was no resisting her. She was the most adorable and polite child in our town. Not to mention the prettiest. You can't help but want to dote on her." As Haruka placed her head on Chihiro's shoulder, the old woman gave her a gentle pat on her cheek. "Not even my own grandchildren were good like her. She used to help around the restaurant, collecting empty glasses from the tables and running around with a notepad to take orders. She would just scribble on the notepad and bring whatever she liked to the table."

"I'm pretty sure that's why your restaurant was doing so well," Haruka joked.

"I'm sure that's why too!" Chihiro laughed. "But you know what I love? When your mother would bring you in the morning before you go to school. You would sit in one of the booths to draw while I do your hair for you."

"I'm sorry I haven't been to see you," Haruka said softly, squeezing Chihiro's hand as she did. "I've been so busy and...after my mother passed away..."

With a gentle pat on her hand, Chihiro was able to bring back the smile on Haruka's face. As they were reminiscing, Eisuke was starting to understand what the restaurant meant to Haruka. This was a place where she spent most of her childhood, with someone doting on her as all children should be. He had never seen Haruka smiled so genuinely and so brightly before. Among all the hardships she went through, this place and Chihiro was her happy childhood. A time when all she had to worry about was what to draw in one of the booths.

Excusing herself after a long while of catching up with each other, Chihiro disappeared into the kitchen and left the two alone. Although he was ignored the whole time and sat quietly while the two women chattered away, for once Eisuke did not mind. He came to realise that it was rather entertaining just watching Haruka talk and smile like she had no worry in the world.

"I'm sorry you had to sit through that."

"I was expecting it," Eisuke shrugged. "I never knew you had a childhood like that."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Mr. Ichinomiya," Haruka hummed. "Chihiro-san took great care of us. She hired my mother when no one else would. I think she only did so out of pity. A desperate single mother with a child as young as I was, most thought she was demanding too much when she asked if she could bring me to work with her if needed. Not only did Chihiro-san agreed, she would babysit me when my mother was too busy. She did my hair and she would make me bento that all my friends were jealous of."

"I can see that she loves you like you're her own."

Staring at Eisuke, Haruka smiled ever so softly and warmly. After her mother's funeral, she never saw Chihiro again. There was always the excuse of having to work but Haruka knew deep down that was not the case. As with the cinema, she was in denial. Chihiro's restaurant was a place where she had the most memories with her mother. Walking into the restaurant and not seeing her mother rushing about to serve would only hit her hard that her mother was no longer around. So she stopped visiting the restaurant. She would send money occasionally to Chihiro but that was about the only interaction she would allow herself.

Coming out from the kitchen, Chihiro carried a tray of food over to the table. Every single dish she made was Haruka's favourite. It reminded Haruka of the times when she would celebrate her birthday in the restaurant where her mother would personally prepare each and every dish that night. She used to be jealous of her classmates when they would have themed birthday parties and parents who would dote on them. Then, she realised she too had people loving her just as much.

"Before your mother passed, she came to see me," Chihiro said. "She came to see me one last time to thank me for my help over the years. Then she gave me this." Pulling a small notebook out, Chihiro handed it over to Haruka. "It's her recipes for all your favourite food. She asked me for one last favour, for me to celebrate your birthdays with you and to make you a meal just like she did."

"She's always doing things for others but never herself," Haruka whispered, flipping through the notebook.

"You're her daughter, she would have done anything and everything for you."

"She did."

Stroking Haruka's hair gently, Chihiro leaned in and whispered right by her ear. "I'm sure your mother would be happy to know that you found yourself a man who loves you this much." Not needing to see where the old woman was looking, Haruka knew she was referring to Eisuke. It was true that none of this would be possible if not for the man sitting there, eating what could be his first home-cooked meal in a long time. "He's tall, good looking, and if he can afford to let me run business here rent free, he's rich. But most importantly, he loves you a lot. There's not a lot of men like him left, make sure you never let him go."

"He's my boss, Chihiro-san," Haruka whispered back. "He doesn't love me like you think he does."

"I'm old, I know, but I'm not stupid. It just means that I have more experience in this than you do and trust me. He loves you. And I know you love him too."

There was always a misunderstanding regarding the relationship between her and Eisuke. Millions of articles were written about them, and hundreds of reporters tried to get her to admit that they were dating the whole time. Each and every time, they would deny the allegations and move on from it. She was never bothered by the rumours. She found them to be amusing, to be honest. There were whole websites dedicated to why they were thought to be dating, with ridiculous theories and breakdowns of every interaction between them.

Hearing the same thing from Chihiro, however, it felt different this time. Like...it was real.

Chihiro was someone who watched Haruka growing up. She knew everything there was to know about her. If she was so sure about them, then perhaps it was true? Could it be that she loved Eisuke as more than just her boss, more than just a friend? And was it possible that Eisuke saw her as more than just his secretary? Would any other boss did what Eisuke did for her? Would Baba have gone to all the lengths that Eisuke did just for her birthday?

"It's great to see you again, Haruka, and to see you doing so well," Chihiro said, walking the duo over to the door. "Make sure you come again and come often, okay? You too, Eisuke. You're welcomed here anytime."

"Take care," Haruka sighed, giving Chihiro one last hug. "And thank you for everything, Chihiro-san."

With a few more well wishes for each other, they were finally on their way. The drive home was silent because Haruka could not stop thinking about what Chihiro said. Now that they were alone in the car, she was feeling a little awkward. She was not certain about her own feelings for Eisuke, and she could not bring herself to ask Eisuke about his. Even if she did, Eisuke would most likely deny it too. Before she knew it, they were outside her apartment.

"Thank you for the ride."

"I didn't get to say it earlier but, happy birthday," Eisuke said.

"Thank you."

Awkward silence filled the car once more and Haruka had to get out before she was confused further by her own thoughts. Just as she was about to open the door however, she stopped herself. She had no idea what overcame her, nor did she know where she found the courage. Leaning over, she gave Eisuke a kiss on his cheek. Stunned, Eisuke's only reaction was to stare at her while she got out of the car in record speed.

Keeping her head down, she walked toward the stairs up to her apartment but was pulled back by her elbow. It happened so quickly but by the time she finally registered what was going on, Eisuke's lips were on hers. Her body reacted on its own as her arms went around his neck, her fingers locking together to keep Eisuke from pulling away though he was far from it. All those confused feelings she had been trying to suppress were bubbling inside.

There was no denying that she saw Eisuke as more than just her boss, otherwise they would not be kissing passionately so in the middle of the street. But as they separated to take a breath, she still could not quite put her finger on what they were, or what they would be.


	9. Filler

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, that's why we call it the present"

- _Joan Rivers_

*Eight Years Ago*

His first day of work was not going as he had expected. Because of the name Ichinomiya, he had been carrying a burden that no one else could see. He could not mess up, especially not on his first day. He wanted to prove himself but instead, he was confined behind a desk interviewing for his secretary the entire day. He did not see the need in the urgency but Akira was insistent on the fact that without a good secretary, he would not be able to work well. Stuck in his office, the only thing Eisuke knew he would not be able to work well without was a good cup of coffee and he had been denied that all morning.

It was exhausting, listening to the same thing over and over. Every person who walked in looked the same to him; expensive blouse with an expensive skirt, and expensive shoes. They looked the part of an executive's secretary but none of them fitted the part. Eisuke was starting to think that Akira was really playing with him.

Eager to get it over with, he picked up the next resumé from the pile Akira's secretary had so nicely organised for him. This one, however, was different from the rest. This file was light. So light because there was only two pages in it. It was the most pathetic and if he was being honest, saddest resumé by far. How it even slipped past Akira's secretary and ended up in the pile was a mystery to Eisuke. With no intentions of hiring whoever it was, he simply buzzed them in so he could reject them on the spot.

Leaning back on his chair, Eisuke kept his eyes trained on the door. There was a knock and the door opened slowly, revealing a girl. She had her hair down, flowing past her shoulders. Her white blouse was obviously a new one but he could tell straightaway that it was just some cheap department store item. Her black pencil skirt did not fit her at all, going way past her knees and had to be kept up by what one would call a belt though he saw it more as a piece of string. Despite the sad resumé, so far, she had successfully captured Eisuke's attention.

"Good morning, sir."

"Speak only when I ask you to."

Taking a closer look at her resumé, Eisuke could not help but feel a little sorry for the girl though it was one resumé that impressed him. Matsuoka Haruka, eighteen years old, and recently graduated from high school. Her grades were good. Amazingly good. With grades like hers, she could have gotten into any university she wanted in Japan. She could have gone overseas if she wanted. Yet here she was, rubbing her wrist nervously, worrying about passing the interview.

The next page in her file was a reference letter. She had but one part-time job since she was sixteen, working at one  _Moe Moe Café_. The name of the café was questionable but what caught his attention was the letter. Most people who walked in today had the standard resumé and references. They were praised for their hardwork, how they would be a valuable employee. Her letter was the same, except whoever wrote it used her given name while others' were formal. Her reference spoke highly of her yet it felt as if they were speaking of a friend, a family, and not a worker.

"Shouldn't you be at an orientation? Like all those your age?"

"I guess so."

"So why aren't you there?" Eisuke asked, waving her resumé. "This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen."

There was a flicker of anger in her eyes though it dissipated as soon as they made eye contact. She was speechless but there was nothing she could say in retaliation; she knew Eisuke was right. A resumé as weak as hers, no one in a reputable company would hire her as an executive's secretary. Eisuke was only entertaining this interview because despite the lack of qualifications, she was the most interesting thing to walk into his office today.

"I know I'm not qualified," she said, her voice so soft Eisuke could barely hear her. "I don't have fancy clothes like all those people who walked in here before me. But if you are going to hire someone based on what they wore today and what they flashed in front of you instead of what they could actually do for you, then I don't want the job. Thank you for your time and I hope you find someone who's good enough for you."

"I didn't say you could leave."

There was no reason for Eisuke to stop her, really. He never intended to hire her anyway. Though, something she said struck a chord in him. All those he interviewed before her, Eisuke had no intentions of hiring either. None of them suited his taste. They were either too pompous or too obvious with their other purposes. He highly doubted that there would be anyone else suiting after her too. He had seen firsthand from those working under Akira that qualifications meant nothing if they were not willing to work. So many men Akira placed his trust in was nothing more than a high school graduate. So why was he so quick to judge this girl?

"It says here you worked at a café. Do you know how to make coffee?" She nodded. "Then make me a cup. Lots of milk, three sugars."

* * *

One cup of coffee.

One cup of coffee was all it took and now one month in, she was still here. She was hopeless to begin with; there were times when Eisuke would question his own decision. She barely understood the different programs on the computer and made severe mistakes with the documents. Each time, he wanted to let her go but then he would see the determination in her eyes and somehow, that reminded Eisuke of himself. They both had something to prove, and all to lose.

Instead, Eisuke would grit his teeth and correct her mistakes, making sure that she knew she had no more chances to make the same mistakes. They would stay late in the office, sitting side by side at her desk having IT lessons. He taught her the functions in Excel and how to type. Every time she made a mistake, he would hit the back of her hand with a ruler much like a teacher. But she learnt fast. Soon, there was nothing to hit her for and nothing for him to teach her. What a shame because he liked their late night lessons. That was the first time Eisuke realised he enjoyed her company.

He came up with more lessons: dining etiquette, social etiquette, and even fashion. Whatever Eisuke could think of, he made a lesson of it.

"How the hell did  _she_  get the job? She's just a high school graduate."

"She slept with him."

"Did she?!"

"She must have! Otherwise, why was she hired out of everyone else? And she's having all those late nights with him, who knows what they're up to in the office?"

"Oh God, you don't think they did it in the office, do you?"

"I know they did. The cleaning lady said she heard some noises one night. I'm just surprised, really. I had no idea he had such bad taste. I always thought he would go for the sexy type, you know? Not the cute, pity-me type."

It was coincidence that he happened to walk past that pantry that day. He was never one to be bothered by rumours. He lived much of his schooling years swimming in them, in fact. He rose above them all because he knew they were not true and if they were not true, they would not be able to hurt him. Hearing the gossips about Haruka, however, stirred something in him.

His body moved on its own, walking toward the pantry with his mind set on telling the gossiping women off. Haruka was far from what they said she was. She wanted the job because she needed the job. Those late nights with him were so she could improve for the job. She was not the type of person they said she was, nor would she ever be. He wanted them to know. He  _needed_  them to know. But just as he was about to step into the pantry, he froze on the spot. Standing by the doorway on the opposite side was Haruka.

Her eyes were red with tears swelling in them. Her knuckles were white from how hard she was gripping onto the folder in her hand. As she made eye contact with Eisuke, however, the tears rolled down her cheeks and she turned away. He had learnt from day one that Haruka was a crybaby. She cried at almost every mistake, and she would cry whenever she thought Eisuke would fire her. He would roll his eyes at all those times but not this time. This time, it felt as if someone took a dagger and stabbed him right in the heart. What was this feeling?

~.~

She knew there would be talks about her, that much she expected. In a company as big as Ichinomiya Group, there was bound to be rumours spreading from every corner and being an unqualified secretary for an executive, it would be more surprising to know that no one whispered anything behind her back. But Haruka shut her ears to everything she would hear. She was here for the job and that was all. They would start to see how serious she was about her job and despite the lack of qualifications, she was still capable.

They would talk about her clothes, how they never heard of the brand and how the materials were cheap. It did not bother her. They would gossip about her background, snicker about the fact that she was orphaned. That did not bother her either. Then, they would blatantly show their displeasure at her lack of IT skills but Haruka was not bothered still.

Standing outside the pantry and listening to them gossip about her would not be something new either. Except, they were saying something different this time. They were accusing her of seducing Eisuke, using her body to get the job.  _That_ bothered her. This was what her mother went through, and what pushed her over the edge. Every word they said stabbed her hard and she could feel the tears swelling in her eyes though she was determined not to let them fall. She was prepared to let it go, as she did with everything else they said about her. Then she made eye contact with Eisuke.

Seeing Eisuke, she could not help herself. The tears she was so desperate to keep in were finally rolling down her cheeks. She wanted so badly to prove herself to him, that he did not make the wrong decision in hiring her. She wanted to become the secretary that he had been training her to be. Would he believe those words? Would he believe those women over her? Why would he believe in her?

Unable to face him, she turned and left.

She wanted to leave the job entirely but her sisters came to mind and Haruka could not do it. She needed the job, no matter what anyone else said or thought of her. Even if that someone else was Eisuke. She would have to keep a distance between them, to make sure that their relationship was strictly professional so no one could spread any other rumours.

"Yeah...he fired them."

"Seriously? Because they were gossiping in the pantry? My God, he's a tyrant."

"Yeah well, they were gossiping about  _her_."

The whispers started to change after that day; all rumours ceased. When she used to be met with cold stares and stoic expressions, she was now greeted with warm (but fake) smiles and kind good mornings. Those who once gossiped about her were no longer with the company. She would later find out that they had been transferred far away or let go by the company. No one else dared to spread anything about her.

"Is it true? Did you fire the two women in the pantry that day?"

"I did."

Eisuke's answer was brazen yet expected.

"Because they were gossiping?"

"Because they were incompetent," Eisuke stated. "They've been at this company for more than ten years each but have nothing to show for it. It's a miracle if their team did not have to pick up after them every single day. And since they would rather spend their time gossiping instead of improving themselves for work, I gave them all the time to gossip. And if you have time to ask about them, you have time to work. Or else you'll end up like them. I don't need incompetents in my office."

Somehow, a part of her wanted to believe that they were fired because of her. Then again, why would an executive fire someone just because they were speaking ill of their secretary? Who was Haruka to Eisuke for him to do so? With a nod, Haruka dismissed herself but just as she was leaving, Eisuke said something that changed her mind forever.

"You belong to me," Eisuke said, looking her straight in the eyes. "Remember that. No one can touch or hurt anything that's mine and you, Matsuoka Haruka, are mine."


	10. Jealous

"You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself"

- _Margaret Atwood_

Everything was normal.

Eisuke did not like normal. That morning when she came into work, Haruka acted as she usually would. She greeted him good morning, made him a cup of coffee, and went through the tablet to double check the schedule for the day. All was the same except for one thing; she refused to make eye contact with him. She was trying to pretend nothing happened, or trying to forget anything happened at all. But Eisuke could not. He could not pretend they never kissed in the middle of the street outside her apartment. He could not forget how soft her lips were and how sweet she tasted. He did not want to forget that look on her face that was telling him that she wanted him as much as he did her.  _He could not_.

"...change these parts here too. Once you're done, you can send the contract over."

"Alright." Returning to her side of the desk, Yumi looked through the document. She turned to ask Haruka a question only to see her senior being dragged out of the office by her boss. "Haruka...-san?"

He was starting to understand why he hated the idea of her leaving. It was not the fact that nobody else could do the job as well as her. It was not the feeling of betrayal either. Rather, it was the fact that to him, Haruka was more than just an employee. A lot more. He hated seeing her with another man, even when that man was Soryu. If he was to loan her, it would only be for a day and never a second more. He hated seeing another man making her smile or laugh. That sweet laugh of hers was only meant for him, not Baba's cheap jokes. What he hated the most, however, was not having her by his side. A day without her, not being able to hear her voice or see her smile, it was torturous.

With only one thought in mind, Eisuke dragged Haruka away from her desk and to his room. Backing her up against the wall, Eisuke trapped her with his arms and leaned in so close that they could feel each other's hot breath.

"Mr. Ichinomiya...?"

"How dare you pretend as if nothing happened?" Her eyes flickered to a side glance, avoiding eye contact with him but Eisuke would not allow it. He pressed his forehead against hers, giving her no choice but to look at him. "Do you know that you're the only person in this world who could make me feel like this?"

"Mr. Ichinomiya..."

His lips was on hers before he knew it. Whatever she had to say, Eisuke did not want to know. Knowing her, she would try to put distance them. She would say they should keep their relationship professional and nothing else. But they both knew that this relationship had surpassed professionalism a long time ago. They started to see each other differently but neither of them realised nor wanted to admit it. There was no denying now, however.

Knowing there was no escaping from Eisuke, Haruka came to work with her mind set on avoiding the topic of the day before. She could not sleep all night because every time she closed her eyes, the image of Eisuke kissing her would appear. Her heart kept telling her that kissing him was the right thing to do but her mind was saying the opposite. He was her boss, they were never supposed to fall for each other. Eisuke was part of the high class society while Haruka was the lucky pauper who got to taste that lifestyle but would never ever belong. This was never supposed to happen. Yet, with Eisuke's lips pressed hard against hers, she could not bring herself to push him away.

"Eisuke...we can't..."

"Your body is much more honest."

The way she uttered his name, so out of breath and almost like a whisper, it was the most sensual sound. This was the first time she called him by his name; he was always 'Mr Ichinomiya' to her. Eisuke had no idea how much power she had over him just by saying his name but it pushed him over the edge. With one arm wrapped around her waist, he threw her on the bed and climbed on top of her. He traced his finger along her jaw, tilting her chin up to continue the kiss though they both knew this was heading toward more than just that.

As it would happen in the movies, Haruka's phone that fell out of her pocket started ringing. Before she could get to it, Eisuke swiped it onto the floor. True to her personality, she tried to get out of bed though he was quick to have both of her hands pinned above her head. "Don't answer it." It was an order but it was a plea at the same time. She ran away last time, before Eisuke could confirm his feelings and what they were. He was not about to lose her to a phone call.

Despite the death grip on her wrists, Haruka was still trying to wriggle them free. Not wanting to hurt her, Eisuke eventually gave in and let go. He was beating himself up internally. Nobody and nothing in this world ever stood in his way. Whatever Ichinomiya Eisuke, he would get. Any woman would throw themselves at him if he so much as looked their way but he did not want just any woman. He wanted Haruka. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, and have her in bed. He also wanted to see her smile, to see her happy because of those small ridiculous things that he did not understand. He wanted to have her by his side forever.

"Matsuoka Haruka speaking."

Everything happened so quickly that Haruka was still a little dazed. She had all intentions of pushing Eisuke away, to stop this relationship from developing into something more but her emotions clouded her judgement. Her phone ringing snapped her right back to reality. Answering the call, Haruka stepped out of the room naturally. She leaned against the wall and took in a deep breath to calm herself.

" _...hello?_ "

"Yes, yes, I'm here."

" _Good, because I need you. Meet me at the apartment and dress casual._ "

Still on the bed, Eisuke looked to the door. He never meant to pry, but her phone was ringing off the hook with the same person calling. A man's name appearing on her phone was nothing out of the ordinary. She received calls here and there to help him deal with business. But the name on her screen just now was one that Eisuke had never seen before. Or rather, it was a name he knew of but not associated with therefore, by extension, neither should Haruka. So how did Haruka come into contact with him? And why was he calling nonstop?

 _Sagara Yosuke_.

Who was he to Haruka?

* * *

When she was a child, the theme park seemed like a paradise. There were rides, food that her mother would never let her eat, and of course the epitome of a child's life of winning a soft toy. She would beg her mother every birthday, every Christmas, and almost every other day. But theme parks were never a place for them. It was a place for families, for those who could afford the luxury of taking time away from work and spending money they were not earning. There were many things that her mother worked hard to get her. There were many things her mother could not give her, no matter how hard she tried.

If she was that five years old girl, the offer to be taken to a theme park would have been exhilarating. At twenty-six and with so much on her mind, however, it was impossible for her to even enjoy the cotton candy she had been longing for since she was little.

"Do you not like theme parks?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Haruka looked to Yosuke on the other side of the carriage. They were climbing the height as the Ferris wheel was nearing the top but Haruka could barely remember even getting on. "I do," she replied. "I used to ask my mother to bring me all the time but we could never afford it. She didn't have the time either. My first time at a theme park was when I was six, on the day my sister was born. My mother didn't want me at the hospital so the neighbour took care of me. They were taking their kids anyway, so they brought me along."

"Then do you not like the Ferris wheel? Is it the height?"

"I'm not too fond of the height, to be honest."

"But?"

"But what?"

"But that's not why you're making that face."

The time she spent with Yosuke was not long. It was barely enough to get to know someone really. All that he knew about her, he found out in a background check on her. All that she knew about him, was little to nothing. She knew his name, she knew some of his associates, and she knew he was a man with power that was different to Eisuke's but that was still to be wary of. He could read her like an open book, see right through her. A feat that not even Eisuke was this good at. But unexpectedly, Haruka trusted Yosuke enough to be confiding in him. Perhaps it was the fact that he knew pretty much everything there was to know about her that meant she had nothing else to hide. Or perhaps, she found some sort of comfort in him.

"Let me take a guess. It has something to do with that precious boss of yours," Yosuke smiled, treating this like a game. When Haruka kept quiet, his smile widened and his eyes were twinkling from amusement. "Have you finally come to terms with the fact that you've fallen in love with him?"

"Mr. Ichinomiya is just my boss. And I am nothing but just his secretary. We are two very different people."

"And? Has being different ever stopped you from getting what you want? You don't have the qualifications, yet here you are, secretary to one of the richest and powerful men. Does it matter that he's your boss?"

"Do you know how many obstacles I had to get through just to be here today?" Haruka asked. "You don't. The hurdles for my career and those for a relationship with Mr. Ichinomiya are vastly different. The problem isn't that he's my boss, because take that away and we are still two people from two different worlds. He lives in a high class society where everything he sees and touches is the best. I grew up not knowing if we would get a proper meal the next day. I had the chance to taste his life, but that's all I get. I don't belong where he is, nor do I belong with him."

"You're giving up before you even try. Do you know how many relationships I've put together where they come from different places with different backgrounds?"

Thinking back to the double date Yosuke took her on, Haruka could remember how the other woman was pretending to be someone she was not. It did not matter how many lessons Yosuke gave her. It did not matter how expensive her dresses were. She never belonged to the high class society, and she would never belong. How painful must it be to be someone you were not? How lonely would it be, entering a world where no one else understood you?

"But this is not a movie," Haruka stated coldly. "There are no happy endings in the real world. How many of those couples you put together are truly happy with each other? Is the man happy to know that the woman he fell in love with was just someone trained to be who he would love? Is the woman happy knowing that if she was to be herself, he would never have fallen in love? If I really do admit my feelings for Mr. Ichinomiya, there will be nothing but struggles for us. We won't be like the prince and princess in the fairy tale where they lived happily after."

"Do you have so little faith in Ichinomiya Eisuke? In yourself?"

"I have little faith in love."

"Why?"

"Because I've seen it happen. I've seen my mother crying herself to sleep every night, waking up in the middle of the night just to cry again. I've seen her come home exhausted but refused to rest because she was waiting up for him. For a man who would never come. I've seen her making excuses for him, naively believing that he still loved her. Or that he even loved her to begin with. I don't want to be like her."

Behind that beautiful smile of hers, Haruka hid her pain. Yosuke could not help the frown. Although he too had little faith in love, his view on it was not as bleak as hers. He did not believe that he would ever find love for himself, nor was he interested to, but Haruka had completely lost faith. Her mother's failed relationship had utterly destroyed her belief in a relationship that would last. That there was someone out there willing to love her to the end of time.

It stirred something in Yosuke.

~.~

After the Ferris Wheel ride, things seemed to be a little awkward between them. She could be herself around him, be nonrestrictive about what she could say or do. Still, to have confided in him about something so personal, it felt a little uncomfortable to be around him. She felt exposed. But what irked her was the fact that Yosuke seemed unaffected. He still had that smile on his face, taking her around the theme park and even bought them snacks. Somehow, she did not feel irritated with him but rather, she was glad he was acting like so.

Digging into her ice cream with the small plastic spoon, Haruka looked over to Yosuke who was simply watching her eat the ice cream while his was melting in the cup. As she continued eating, Yosuke suddenly reached over and pressed his thumb against the corner of her lips and wiped. He then brought his thumb to his lips and licked the ice cream off with a smirk.

"That was really unhygienic," Haruka pointed out.

"Did that not get your heart going?"

"Definitely not."

"Looks like the movies were wrong. I'll have to note this for my clients."

* * *

He could not concentrate.

He tried distracting himself from his thoughts, turning to his work that would usually focus him but nothing worked. His mind kept wandering back to Haruka and thoughts of her with another man kept rolling in, frustrating Eisuke further. He never liked the thought of her with someone else, especially when it seemed like she was a lot more comfortable with them than she was with him.

Around Eisuke, she was always cautious. She would stand a feet away from him, only getting close to show him something. She had a special smile for him but it was a polite business one. He had seen her smiling so brightly around Baba and Ota on more than several occasions. Everything that she did for him, she did for her job. Perhaps their relationship was not as special as Eisuke initially thought it was.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. Opening the door slightly, Yumi poked her head in first to do a little recon, mainly to see if Eisuke was still in a mood. While a smiling Eisuke was as rare as a super blue moon, even Yumi could tell that he was particularly pissed that morning. She did her best to avoid him, making sure that she made absolutely no mistake so he would have nothing on her. Unfortunately for her, when she did not look for trouble, trouble came looking for her. An hour ago, Eisuke gave her a name and told her to look everything up on the person. Now was the time to present her find although, she was pretty sure Eisuke would not be happy about it.

"Mr. Ichinomiya," Yumi greeted. "Um...you told me to look up a...Sagara Yosuke?"

"And? What did you find?"

"Well...his name is Sagara Yosuke and it seems like he's an...investor?"

"That's all you've found?"

The look on Eisuke's face said it all. He was  _not_  impressed. It was, however, expected. Yumi had seen Haruka do research on many people before. She would usually do the basic Google search and read up on recent articles. If the person was of importance, she would be digging into their social media sites, calling up here and there to get personal information that she could not get anywhere else. Yumi tried to do the same thing.

She searched the name online but little to no articles came up. She tried looking the name up on social media sites but that came up negative. She even tried calling all the contacts she had and asked around about the elusive Sagara Yosuke but not a single person heard of the name, let alone knew who he was. She did her best for the past hour but the limited information was all she could find for Eisuke. She prepared herself before coming in here but there was nothing more she could do.

"He's not exactly the easiest person to find information on," Yumi explained. "I mean...look up Ichinomiya Eisuke and there are tons of articles on you but this man, there's absolutely nothing. There isn't even a photo of him. Oh! I did find something in Haruka-san's files. It seems like he was on the list as potential partners several times but you never chose him. And it seems like he's an associate of Kozaki Taki, the real estate tycoon."

"I know who he is," Eisuke said. "That's all I need."


	11. Tension

"Tension is the cornerstone of any good story"

- _Eric Nylund_

Watching the way her brows furrowed and the way she was biting her bottom lip while her eyes were trained on the tie she was doing for him, Eisuke could not help the irritation growing in him. Whenever there was a formal event that required a tie, it was always Haruka who stood before him and it was always Haruka who would do his tie. The irritation in him stemmed from the fact that Haruka had been avoiding him and she even sent in Yumi instead. Unable to stand watching her clumsy hands, Eisuke grabbed Yumi by the wrists and glared down at her.

"Where is Haruka?"

"She's outside..."

"Tell her to come in."

"But Haruka-san said I should do this. Since she's going on leave soon, I shouldn't be reliant on her."

In a week, the woman who had been by his side the whole time was leaving for six months. He had been repeatedly reminded by all those around him that she would not be around for much longer. And although Eisuke knew deep in his heart that Haruka would return, there was a small part of him that was afraid she would not. What if she liked her life better when he was not in it? What if she met someone and decided that they were the better option?

With a sigh of frustration, Eisuke let her go and left the room with a half done tie. Sitting in the living room, focused on the tablet in her hand, was Haruka in a dark blue gown. Eisuke had to admit, Ota always had the best eyes for fashion and he seemed to do his best works with Haruka. Several times he commissioned the artist to make dresses for Haruka and the results were always stunning. Even Ota once said that he had endless muse for her. Her look was completed with the simple hairstyle and make-up: hair curled lightly and swept to one side with light make-up highlighting her features. Catching himself staring, Eisuke tore his eyes away from her and cleared his throat.

"Mr. Ichinomiya."

Since their little moment in his bedroom, Haruka had been avoiding him. Under the pretense of training, Haruka would push Yumi to go to meeting with Eisuke instead. Any files that needed his signature, it was Yumi who brought them to him. Even his morning coffee, although brewed by Haruka, was brought to him by Yumi. The talk she had with Yosuke did not clear her feelings, it only complicated them. She used to be able to see Eisuke as just her boss but there was now a grey area and her mind was too crowded. Avoiding him seemed to be the only solution she could come up with, but even then, Eisuke was all she could think of.

As much as she wanted to skip tonight, the charity event was hosted by a long time client and she had Yumi to train to handle social situations on such a large scale. It was only for one night and she could keep the professionalism on for just this one night. She had to. Her eyes landed on the loose tie with an unfinished knot and her body moved subconsciously. It became a habit of hers, to fix a tie that was not perfectly done. Bordering obsessive, really. It just did not feel right to leave a loose tie.

Looking down at the familiar sight, Eisuke's attention was directed elsewhere when his eyes caught sight of the necklace she was wearing. Since the first event he took her to, everything Haruka wore was bought by him. His initial intention was so that she would not embarrass him wearing something inappropriate but over the years, it turned into a hobby almost. It was amusing to watch her try on the dresses one after the other. Then, it was just the satisfying feel that he was chasing after when he would find the perfect dress for her. Which was why the necklace she had on now stood out to him. He did not buy her the necklace.

"Is this new?" Eisuke asked, lifting the pendant to get a closer look. Just from one look, he could tell it was from the renowned brand that every woman would die to own just a small piece of jewelry from. An ordinary man would have to pay a limb and a half just to buy a bracelet that would break off any second. Haruka was never one to chase after brands. Or anything expensive, really. She liked looking at pretty things but that was more than enough for her, as she once said.

"Yes, it is," she replied, taking a step back when she was done with the tie.

"A gift?"

"A birthday gift. From a friend," she smiled. "Yumi, are you ready? Mr. Kanagawa is very particular about punctuality."

If she was being honest, Yumi did not want to attend the event. She would rather spend the night doing the same old channel surfing with her boyfriend than to attend the event of the month where she could be meeting celebrities and other people whom she would only see in magazines and/or on screen. Things had been tough enough as it was, but in the past week or so, it became even more awkward for her. She understood that Haruka was training her but whenever there was a chance, the older woman would avoid seeing their boss. Yumi tried to do her job but Eisuke was not making it easy on her either, since he was taking out his frustrations on her (and everyone else but they had the choice of staying away). Yumi thought it would be better to have Haruka around, so Eisuke would not be in a foul mood.

She was wrong.

So wrong.

Anything that Haruka wanted to convey to Eisuke, Yumi was her messenger. But the man would refuse to listen unless she was there to speak in person. Stuck in the middle, Yumi had no idea how to resolve the situation. Even as they were getting in the car, Haruka took the passenger seat and urged Yumi to take her usual place at the back seat instead.

"I'd like for you to pay extra attention tonight, Yumi," Haruka said, looking at her through the rear view mirror from her passenger seat. "Mr. Kanagawa is a long time client and valued business partner. This annual charity dinner is one of the largest events and there will be no mistake tolerable. This will be the last event I'm attending with you, please try to learn everything."

"Last event? But you have another week before you go on leave, don't you? There's another event next Wednesday."

"I've decided to take my leave a week early. If that's okay with you, Mr. Ichinomiya."

"Do whatever you like."

~.~

Despite the awkward and tense car ride, neither Haruka nor Eisuke let it show that they were affected. As soon as they got out, they had smiles plastered on for the cameras. Haruka was naturally standing by Eisuke with her arm loosely wrapped around his. They were stealing attention from the moment they stepped onto the red carpet, even taking cameras away from big name celebrities. If she did not know better, Yumi would have thought they were a couple. The best looking one on scene. In just a moment, they were suddenly surrounded by the paparazzi though neither of them were flustered.

"Miss Matsuoka, is that a Kisaki Ota original you're wearing? Did you buy her the dress, Mr. Ichinomiya?"

"Kisaki Ota is a close friend," Eisuke answered politely. "He was more than happy to design a dress for Haruka."

This was nothing new to either of them. Since the day Haruka started working, everywhere they went, they were constantly bombarded with questions regarding their relationship. No matter how much they denied, they were continuously chased. Only when the tabloids had come to realise that they were not getting anything from them did they ease up a little. Still, it did not stop the paparazzi from trying to snap a photo that might suggest their relationship was anything but that of an employer and employee. Times like this charity event seemed to be their favourite.

Today, however, it seemed as if they were no longer interested in them.

"Miss Matsuoka, the necklace you're wearing is a limited edition, is it not? There is only one to be sold in the Asian region and it was bought by a businessman for his wife. My sources say that the one you're wearing was specially ordered and personalised, making it even more valuable than the others from the same line."

"I don't know my jewelry like you do," Haruka smiled. "It's a gift from a friend, that's all I know."

"What friend, Miss Matsuoka? This line was marketed as the one true gift for your one true love. And considering that yours is specially made and personalised, do you think we would believe that it was your friend? Or is it uncomfortable for you to talk about another love when you're with Mr. Ichinomiya?"

"That's enough questions."

With his hand firmly on her waist, Eisuke tugged Haruka close before walking away from the crowd of cameras and headed into the venue. He  _knew_ there was something more to that necklace. It did not feel right seeing it on her neck and he was proven right. She had been referring to the person as a friend and Eisuke knew there was no way she would tell anyone who it was though he knew.

_Sagara Yosuke_

Before he had the chance to talk to her, however, Eisuke was pulled away by the host of the event, Mr. Kanagawa. The man was an old partner of Akira's and had been kind enough to help Eisuke through his career too. He was one of the few people with whom Eisuke did not mind having a conversation at parties and events though today, despite being the host, Eisuke was loathing him just a little.

Putting a hand on Yumi's arm, Haruka stopped the younger woman from following. Having been through this for eight years, she became quite adept at knowing when the men wanted to be alone. Though, she appreciated the fact that Mr. Kanagawa came when he did. After avoiding him for the past few days, she wanted to be away from him for the rest of the night. Albeit for different reasons to her avoidance previously.

Touching the pendant on her neck, she could not shake away what the paparazzi said before. She knew Yosuke was never one to gift ordinary gifts. The most ordinary gift was the gift box he left at her apartment door but even then, it was filled with luxuries that Haruka wanted yet would never get for herself. Those presents, however, she could return. When he sent over the necklace along with the usual bouquet of peonies and a card, she wanted to send it back like she did with all other presents from him. The only reason why she kept it was because Yosuke argued that it was a birthday gift and it would have been rude of her to reject. Now she knew, that even if she insisted, returning the necklace would have been impossible considering the personalisation.

"Never knew you could look so good in blue." Startled, Haruka swung her hand back though it was caught by Yosuke effortlessly before he placed a kiss on the back of her hand. She pulled her hand away and took a step back to put distance between them subconsciously but Yosuke caught her by the elbow, pulling her closer with a smile. "Is that how your Mr. Ichinomiya taught you to greet a guest?"

"I'm a guest here too."

"Really? Considering the relationship between Ichinomiya Group and Kanagawa Corporations, I'd say that you and your boss are more like extended hosts."

Yumi could not help but stare.

There were a lot of rumours surrounding the upper class society; that they all lived in mansions, they would spend their afternoons with a high tea, and they were all ridiculously good looking. Back in her school days, there was a rich guy in her class. He lived in a slightly bigger house than the rest of them and had one nanny. His looks, however, was rather common. He was Yumi's only concept of rich people, until she met Eisuke and the others who lived in the penthouse. They were as ridiculously handsome as all the movies depicted and they lived an extravagant drama filled life. This man in front of her was on the same level of ridiculous good looks. He wore a simple suit, yet he was radiating charisma like the sun. If he was to stand next to Eisuke, they would be what every boy band wanted to be but never could.

Haruka, on the other hand, was living a life much like the main character in almost every teenage drama or romantic comedy films. She was an ordinary girl looking for an ordinary life only to be whisked away into the chaotic world of rich handsome men. Just watching Haruka was enough to satisfy Yumi's needs of mindless drama consumption.

"I knew this would suit you," Yosuke smiled, touching the pendant on her neck. "Does Ichinomiya Eisuke like it?"

"Why would he?"

"No particular reason. I just thought he would have something to say about it."

"Well, sorry to disappoint but he had nothing to say about it."

Haruka attracting men to her would not be something new to Eisuke. Whenever his secretary was left alone, the men would start to swarm in like bees to honey. The braver ones would even try their luck with Eisuke right beside her. She never paid them any attention, however. She would politely turn them down or engage in light conversations with a business smile. Eventually, when they would learn that they were getting nowhere with her, the men would move on. Not the man beside her now, however.

He started noticing the young man next to Haruka about ten minutes ago. He was standing uncomfortably close to her but Haruka was not making any attempts of putting distance between them, like she would with any other man. He seemed to be irritating her, much like Baba would, though instead of her usual polite smile and nod while tolerating Baba's buffoonery she had various expressions to convey her annoyance. He had never seen those expressions before.

Around him, Haruka was always professional. No matter how unreasonable he would be (yes, Eisuke knew he could be from time to time), she would always have a smile on her face and tell him yes. Even when she disagreed with him, she would never let irritation show on his face. He never even heard a single complaint from her. Not even when Baba was being highly inappropriate at times. Ota often commented on how robotic she was though Eisuke never minded. Not until now, at least. Watching the way she would freely express herself, he could not help but feel...jealous.

"Eisuke?"

"Sorry, Mr. Kanagawa."

"It's alright, I was young once too. I still get distracted by pretty ladies," Mr. Kanagawa chuckled, giving Eisuke a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Especially one as pretty as her," he said, pointing to Haruka before looking to Eisuke. "Now son, I know it's always been more business between us but let me tell you something. Don't believe in that bullshit of, if she's happy you're happy. If you are certain that you could make her happy, why let another man do it?"

With one last pat on the shoulder, Mr. Kanagawa gave Eisuke a gentle push and a nod before returning to entertain his guests. The man was right; if he was certain that he could make Haruka the happiest person on Earth, why should he let another man do it? Making his way across the hall, Eisuke ignored every single person who tried to stop him until he was standing in front of Haruka and Yosuke.

"Let's go, Haruka."

"Mr. Ichinomiya? What do you mean go? The banquet hasn't started yet."

"I said, we're going."

"But Haruka's having fun," Yosuke interjected, a playful smirk plastered on his face. "Perhaps you could leave and I'll bring her home tonight."

Despite it being a first meeting, everything about Yosuke was vexing. The way he spoke, the way he smiled, even the way he looked at them. It was as if he was enjoying a movie while being a part of it. Eisuke knew that his words were meant to be provoking, and he knew he should not get caught in the trap but he was not thinking straight. Haruka was at stake.

Looking to Haruka, he was trying to read her mind through her eyes. Did she want to stay for the sake of the banquet? Or did she truly want to stay and be with Yosuke? He could not tell. It frustrated Eisuke further, that he could not tell what she was thinking. It used to be that they could tell exactly what the other had on mind with just one look but looking at her now, he could not tell at all.

"Come with me."

"Yumi if you could please get the driver to bring the car around and escort Mr. Ichinomiya."

"What about you, Haruka-san?"

"I'm staying." The look in her eyes was adamant. She was not coming with him. "It'd be rude of us to leave before the banquet even starts. I'll explain to Mr. Kanagawa that Mr. Ichinomiya is not feeling well."

"Do whatever you like."


	12. Courage

“The secret to happiness is freedom…And the secret to freedom is courage”

- _Thucydides_

**[Sora to Haruka]:**   _Sorry! I’d love to meet but the kids have a play date._

**[Naoko to Haruka]:**   _This Friday? I could do next week but not this week._

**[Aya to Haruka]:**   _Who is this?_

-.-

For eight years, she never even had a cough. The closest she came to becoming ill was when Baba came in one day wearing a cologne so strong that she could not stop sneezing around him. She always had the theory of bacteria and viruses being too afraid of Eisuke to come close to her. Or well, she was simply too busy to be sick. It was only the second day of her six months leave when she caught the flu and ran a fever. With the last of her fever patches on her forehead, she dragged herself out of bed to stock up on her medicines. Every medicine she had expired at least a year ago. Even the fever patch she had on seemed to be having minimum effect on cooling her temperature down.

“Fancy seeing you here at this time, Haruka-chan. Oh Lord, what happened to you? You look terrible.”

“Good morning, Tsubaki-san,” Haruka smiled, her voice nasally from her blocked nose. “Yeah…running a fever and I can only breathe through my mouth right now so, I don’t think I can look any better than this to be honest.”

“Well, it’s about time you have some rest from work too. With your boss working you down to the bone, I’m surprised you’re only getting sick now.”

“Actually, I’m on leave right now. This flu had great timing, I guess.”

Eight years ago, when Haruka had nowhere else to go, Tsubaki took her in. When she could have rented out the apartment upstairs to someone else with a stable job, she instead leased the place below market price to Haruka. When the girl spent three months going to interviews and being rejected constantly, Tsubaki would bring her dinner everyday and waive the rent. Without children of her own, it seemed as if the woman had taken Haruka to be her own daughter and for that, she would be forever grateful.

“You’re a workaholic, you know that?” Tsubaki sighed. “When people take time off work, they tend to be happier and healthier. The moment you stopped working, you get sick.”

“I’d like to think that I was always too busy for the viruses to catch me and now, eight years of flu and colds have finally caught up with me.”

“Well, I think you’ll recover soon. Especially since you have a hottie taking care of you.”

“Hottie?”

Without giving her an explanation, Tsubaki simply said goodbye and went on with her day. Although confused, Haruka bid the older woman goodbye and climbed the stairs up to her apartment. Sitting on the top step was the last person she expected to see albeit, by now, it was no surprise seeing him. Focused on what seemed to be a game on his phone, Yosuke was so immersed that he did not notice Haruka’s presence at all. Not until she was standing right in front of him, at least.

When her shadow cast upon him, Yosuke looked up and greeted her with a bright smile. If she was being honest, Haruka was getting tired of seeing his face. Her first impression of him was that of a man with extreme good looks. Then it was just a man with an irritating personality who seemed to enjoy actively annoying her. She grew used to him soon after, though she was tired of his shenanigans; whisking her off to double doubles and what she could only describe as pimping her off. Then there was the borderline stalking which he once so cheerfully explained as a friend being concerned. There were also the occasional times where he would speak so deeply philosophical and acted as if he knew what she was thinking. What was infuriating, was the fact that he was always on point.

She took time off work to be away from Eisuke, from anything and everything that kept her from having a life of her own. But just when she thought she shook off everything in the way, life threw in Sagara Yosuke who was sticking to her like a barnacle on a rock unfortunately.

“Tsubaki-san must be blind to think of you as a hottie.”

“Tsubaki-san? Oh, that lovely lady downstairs? She’s not wrong, you know.”

“What do you want, Yosuke?”

“That’s the first time you called me by my name.”

Since the entanglement with him, Haruka had made it a point to never call him by his name no matter how much he insisted. It was part of her professionalism to keep things strictly business between most people. Though if she had to be completely honest, the main reason was because she did not want to humanise Yosuke too much. If she started calling him by his name, it would feel as if he was a friend. With her temperature running high however, she had no energy to keep up. She had no energy to deal with him at all, yet here he was.

“What do you want?” she repeated.

“A little birdie told me that you’re sick,” Yosuke smiled. “So I came to see how you are.”

“Did your little birdie tell you how creepy that is?”

Knowing that there was no convincing him to leave, she opened the door to her apartment instead. Ignoring Yosuke, she walked in and dropped the bag of medicines on the coffee table before going to get a glass of water. Following close behind, Yosuke took it upon himself to have a look around. Her apartment was not big, though it was more than enough space for one person. As expected of Haruka, the place was spotless with everything neatly in their place.

He took his time, walking around the small space and picking up every picture she had out. There were not a lot of pictures but there were big smiles in every single one of them. They were mostly of her sisters, with a woman whom Haruka resembled. As he continued his tiny exploration, he soon came to a small shrine in the corner; a shrine dedicated to the same woman in all those pictures. Kneeling down in front of the shrine, Yosuke paid his respects silently when Haruka came out of the kitchen with two glasses of water.

“You look like your mother.”

“She was more beautiful,” Haruka said, sitting on the sofa as she put one glass down on the coffee table for Yosuke. “You know, at the restaurant she used to work, she used to get men writing their numbers down on napkins and receipts for her.”

“Like mother, like daughter.”

“I’ll never be my mother.”

From all the times he had spoken to her, Yosuke became rather proficient at picking up double meanings in her words. Despite his persistent digging, any information regarding Haruka’s father was carefully concealed. When he could not find anything through Haruka, he went through her sisters instead though just like Haruka, there was no name written on their birth certificates. Nor was there anything that so much as pointed toward a possible candidate. Trying to find out through their mother had proven to be even more useless. Anything before Haruka’s birth was completely wiped; no record of academics, and no record of employment. And from the way Haruka would react whenever her parents were brought up, it only intrigued Yosuke further.

Looking over to the shrine and the photo on it, he could not help but wonder just what kind of man Haruka’s mother got herself involved with. Although she spoke highly of and idolised her mother, it seemed as if the woman was also the sole reason why Haruka was so afraid of confronting her feelings for Eisuke.

Shifting on the sofa, Yosuke leaned forward and with one hand, he pushed Haruka down and got on top of her. She was weak, physically and mentally. It took her a full minute to finally realise what was happening but by then, Yosuke had her hands pinned above her head with just one hand. Desperately struggling against him, Haruka stopped moving when his face was just inches away from hers. The twinkle in his eyes gave away his mischief though she could tell he had no intentions of letting her go. Leaning in close, she could feel his breath on her ear as he spoke.

“Would you like me to feed you the medicine?” Instead of an answer, Haruka coughed in his face. Recoiling, Yosuke finally let go of her and Haruka pushed herself up with a glare. Fortunately for him, before she could say anything, a coughing fit found her instead. Going through the bag of medicine she bought earlier, Yosuke got two pills out and handed it to her. “Drink,” he said, tipping her glass gently. “You should get some sleep too.”

“Not with you here.”

“Well that’s rude of you,” Yosuke frowned, then let out a chuckle. “I’ll be on my way. I’m not looking forward to catching your cold anyway, especially since you seem adamant on giving it to me.”

“Only if it kills you.”

Feigning hurt, Yosuke put a hand on his chest and gave a pout though Haruka only rolled her eyes at him. Once she took the medicine, Yosuke watched as she got into bed. It only took her a couple of minutes but she was soon in deep sleep. “Did your mother not teach you to never lower your guard around a man?” Yosuke whispered, taking his phone out of his pocket. “Let’s see if that man would lose his control.”

* * *

 

Not having his secretary around was much more difficult than Eisuke originally imagined.

There were so many things he had grown accustomed to over the years that the moment they were no longer around, it felt as if the entire world was…off. His morning felt off, his afternoon felt off, even as he worked through the night, he felt off. Not to mention the horrendous cup of coffee that Yumi claimed was made exactly the way Haruka did. But there was nothing he could do. After working her to death for eight years, six months away did not seem like she was asking for too much. Though, it was exactly this leave that had Eisuke thinking.

All these years, he never thought she would leave. She found a job that would hire her, and he finally found someone with whom he could work. Early hiccups aside, there was no reason why Eisuke would not continue employing her. But did she want to stay on? The fact that she wanted six months away from him was proof enough that she had no thoughts of staying with him forever. There would come a day when she would eventually hand in her resignation letter and who was he to tell her to stay?

Then the appearance of Sagara Yosuke complicated things further.

For once, he had a glimpse of what it would be like if Haruka found someone to love. Over the years, she did not have a lack of admirers but he was never concerned because she had no interest in any of them. The business smile, coupled with the polite rejection, there was no reason for Eisuke to worry. With Yosuke, however, Haruka was not professional. She would scowl and frown, she would roll her eyes, and she would let her frustration show. She could be herself; something she could never be around him.

A notification buzz on his phone snapped him out of his thoughts. This was a personal phone that only a handful of people would contact him on, and only if it was absolutely necessary. Flashing on the screen was a message with a photo attachment but the sender was unknown. Prepared to delete the message before seeing it, Eisuke stopped himself the last second. Something in his guts was telling him that he would regret not seeing it, so he clicked in instead.

_Sleeping Beauty has been missing her Prince Phillip so much that she fell ill!_

_Without her prince beside her, I wonder who will take care of the princess?_

_Beware, princesses this pretty, there are princes all over the world after that true love’s kiss._

Attached was a picture of Haruka, fast asleep in her bed with someone holding her hand.

Standing up suddenly, Eisuke knocked his chair over though he barely noticed. He had no time to notice. Grabbing his suit jacket, he rushed out of his office, startling Yumi at her desk when he burst through his door.

“Cancel everything today,” Eisuke ordered, heading toward the stairs.

“What? But you have a really important meeting wit-”

“Cancel it!”

Hurrying down the stairs, Eisuke was out of the penthouse so fast that the other men barely had a second to say hi. As he made his way to the garage, he grabbed a random key and pressed the unlock button, getting into the car with headlights on. His mind was occupied only with the fact that Haruka was ill and she was alone. Alone with another man. There was no doubt that the hand holding hers belonged to a man, but the question was who and Eisuke had an idea as to who.

The usual thirty minutes drive to her apartment only took Eisuke eighteen minutes as he arrived on her street. There were several lights he ran though he could not care less. Slamming the door to his car, he took two steps at a time and stood just outside her door. Just before he pressed the doorbell, however, he stopped. What was he hoping for? If he went in now and was confronted with Haruka and another man, what was he going to do? Pulling his hand back, Eisuke turned away from the door but could not bring himself to leave.

Still contemplating, the door suddenly opened and he turned to see Haruka. She had a fever patch on her forehead but the redness of her face was a dead giveaway that it was no help. She was leaning against the door frame just to keep herself upright. It took her a minute or two, all the while coughing, just to recognise Eisuke.

“Mr. Ichinomiya…?”

“Where are you going in that state?”

“Buy…medicine…”

“Can you even walk?”

His question was answered when she suddenly leaned forward collapsing, though he caught her in his arms. Just holding her, he could tell her fever was way too high for her to be out of bed. Sweeping her off her feet, Eisuke carried her into the apartment and put her back in bed. Looking around her apartment for a thermometer, that was when Eisuke spotted the small bag of medicine on her coffee table. Just how sick was she to forget she had medicine right there?

After taking her temperature (39 degrees), Eisuke went to get a wet towel. While he knew it was recommended to take her to the hospital for a high fever, Eisuke also remembered the one and only time she was taken to the hospital and had a panic attack. Even seeing the doctor on site at the hotel for a simple annual body check seemed to give her anxiety. Though, he found it ridiculous that he was here taking care of his secretary. Eight years ago, or even just two years ago, he never would have imagined he would be in this position. If he knew Haruka was ill then, he would have just called a doctor for her at most. No one would have thought that Ichinomiya Eisuke would be wringing out the towel and carefully putting it on her forehead.

“You’re the only person in this world who could make me do the most ridiculous things.”

“…don’t go…”

Who was she calling out to? Yosuke was not around when Eisuke came, could it be him she was calling for? Jealousy and rage was boiling in him. That was until Haruka started talking again.

“…don’t go, Eisuke…”

Hearing his name from her had Eisuke stunned. His heart was beating fast though he did not quite understand why. Last time she said his name, he lost control. Was this what it felt like to be in love? To give in to impulses and lose his grip on common sense, was that what being in love was? To feel jealousy and anger whenever she was with another man, was that what love was? To think about her and only of her, wanting to be with her always, was that love?

If so, he was uncontrollably and madly in love with her.

He was in love with Matsuoka Haruka.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Eisuke said softly, brushing her hair out of her face gently. Leaning in, he pressed his lips on hers gently. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here and I’ll wait for you. I’ll always wait for you and only you.”


	13. Value

"A value is valuable when the value of value is valuable to oneself"

- _Dayananda Saraswati_

The vibrating of his phone woke him up. At some point, Eisuke fell asleep waiting for Haruka to wake up while holding her hand. He straightened himself and loosened the hand holding Haruka's to reach into the inner pocket of his suit. By the time he got the phone out, the call ended. As he turned the phone on, the screen lit up to show messages from several people and many missed calls from Yumi. As the phone started buzzing again, Eisuke let out a sigh of frustration. He specifically told her to cancel all his appointments for the rest of the day, what could she be calling about?

He looked to Haruka who was still sleeping, taking the towel off her forehead and pressed the back of his hand against it. Although warm, it was significantly cooler than when he first arrived. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead before pressing the answer button.

"You better have a good reason for calling. And by good, I mean life or death."

"Why are you speaking so softly?"

Not wanting to disturb Haruka, Eisuke whispered into his phone. As if mocking him, Yumi was whispering into the phone on the other end. There were times when Eisuke questioned Haruka's decision on her replacement. Looking over his shoulder, Eisuke let out a sigh and closed his eyes. If he was patient enough to deal with Yumi for the next six months, he would get Haruka back. It did not seem like a bad deal, six months for Haruka.

"Why are you calling?" Eisuke asked, moving further away from Haruka's bed. He was speaking normally, though his volume was still hushed.

"I know you said to cancel everything, and I did. But there's someone here to see you, a Miss Inoue Junko. She refused to leave, saying that she would wait here until you come back."

"I'll be back in half an hour. Get her a cup of tea, Darjeeling."

Ending the call on Yumi, Eisuke walked over to the bed again. If it were up to him, Eisuke would stay here with Haruka for the rest of the night. If she was awake however, Haruka would be telling him to go. One of the reasons why he kept her around was because she always knew the right decision at the right time. It was one of her superpowers. Many times, she saved him from having to make the decision of which client to give up when there was a clash of time. All those times, her decision managed to keep both clients.

Against every fibre of his body, Eisuke decided to leave.

~.~

By the time she woke again, it was dark outside.

Turning her head sluggishly, Haruka let out a groan as she glanced to the clock on the wall. Despite the shock of knowing she slept most of the day, she had no energy to deal with the shock. She rolled onto her side and the towel on her forehead fell on her pillow. With a frown, she managed to push herself into a sitting position and picked up the towel. While her memory was a little fuzzy, she clearly remembered she used a fever patch instead because it was the last one and she had to go out for more. As she was recalling her day before her blackout, Yosuke's visit came to mind. Was he the one who took care of her?

At the thought of Yosuke nursing her, Haruka could not help the chuckle. The Yosuke she knew was not the type to take care of others. Or at the very least, he was not fit to take care of others. That childish personality of his would only make matters worse for his patient.

Dismissing the idea, Haruka got out of bed and stretched out her limbs and back. After eight healthy years, she had forgotten what it was like to be ill. This feeling of lethargy and disorientation was not something she missed at all. Dragging herself to the kitchen, she was pouring a glass of water when she noticed a thermos with a sticky note on it. She plucked the note from the thermos, tilting her head slightly as she read it. It seemed she was wrong about Yosuke, and the note was proof.

_World's Greatest Secretary,_

_I know you're amazing at taking care of others but sometimes, you just have to take care of yourself._

_This is chicken soup. Don't worry, I didn't make it. I just went downstairs to the convenience store and microwaved a can, ha! Anyway, when you wake, eat the soup and take your medicine._

_Get well soon! I can't lose my best girl ;)_

_Your best guy,_

_Sagara Yosuke_

* * *

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the world's busiest secretary."

"It's nice to see you too, Naoko."

"Come here!"

It took her a good week to fully recover from her flu; just in time for her to meet with an old friend. Naoko was a good friend of hers in high school. They were in the same class every year and were sat right next to each other. Naturally, they became close friends. Every lunch time, Naoko would sit at her desk and they would share their bento. After school, Naoko would drag her to the nearby snack shop to buy the newest sweets for her sisters. Naoko was the one who found a job for her when she desperately needed one. They kept in touch after graduation but ever since Haruka started working for Eisuke, she had no time for her friend.

As Naoko pulled her into a hug, Haruka let out a big smile and gladly returned the hug. Seeing her friend was feeling nostalgic yet at the same time, refreshing. Naoko definitely changed a lot since her school days. The cute schoolgirl with a side ponytail was no longer but instead, a woman wearing an off-shoulder blouse and long jeans with long wavy hair dyed golden brown sat opposite her. The bubbly girl was now a charming woman who was already catching the eye of several guys in the café.

"So, how did you manage to convince your boss to let you out?"

"I didn't, because I don't need his permission to be here. I took a leave."

"Just to spend time with me? Oh wow, I am so honoured."

Despite not meeting for years, the two friends hit it off almost immediately. They started by catching up for the past few years then, it was mostly reminiscing their school days together. They were giggling and whispering as if they were two teenage girls once again. This was the type of interaction Haruka missed, where she could just be herself and talk about things that someone else could relate to. Where she did not have to run around, putting out fires (figuratively and literally twice), and dealing with unreasonable individuals.

She missed being able to just sit in a café with a cup of tea and a slice of cake, not with a tablet in her hand while her phone was ringing off the hook because there were more fires for her to put out. She always knew that because of her job, she missed out on a lot in life. She was not there when Haruna's dance club won the championship. She was not there when Haruko was giving her valedictorian speech at her middle school graduation. Listening to Naoko now, she was coming to realise that she missed out on a lot more than she originally thought.

Over the eight years, there had been countless class reunions and school reunions, all of which she never attended. Several of their classmates got married, some to each other. Most of them were parents too. Naoko and Haruka seemed to be one of the few focused on their career instead.

All of a sudden, in the middle of their conversation, Naoko leaned in and grabbed Haruka's hand. The look on her face was the same one back in high school whenever she would get excited, especially when it came to Haruka's love life. Though she only found out after graduation, it seemed like Naoko had a little bet going on with most of their friends to see who Haruka would go out with in the end. She had the exact same look back then as she did now when she found out Haruka went on a date with the basketball captain.

"Don't turn around, but there is a super hot guy staring at you."

"A super hot guy? Really? We're not in high school anymore, Naoko, stop playing around."

"Oh my...! He's coming over! He's coming over!"

In her excitement, Naoko was hitting Haruka's upper arm over and over. Grabbing Naoko's hand to stop her, Haruka looked over her shoulder out of curiosity. The result, however, was more than disappointing. When she felt overworked and needed time to herself, she could take leave from work and be away from Eisuke and the other guys. But when she felt irritated and wanted to get rid of him, he was like a stubborn rash that kept coming back.

Beaming from ear to ear, Yosuke took a seat next to Haruka before looking to Naoko. "Nice to meet you, I'm Sagara Yosuke. You must be Ayasegawa Naoko." Unable to resist his charms, Naoko shook his hand with a smile to match his. "You're as pretty as Haruka said you are," he continued.

"Really? Haruka told you about me?" Naoko asked, turning to her friend. "But you never told me about your super hot boyfriend."

"He is not my boyfriend," Haruka denied. "And he is not super hot. He is a super creepy stalker."

"If I have a stalker as hot as you, I wouldn't mind being stalked."

"And I would love to stalk a woman as pretty as you."

Stuck in between the two, Haruka could not help but feel awkward. Weird was an understatement to describe the exchange between the two. She always knew Naoko was eccentric in her own ways. She would use to come up with dramatic scenarios that were good enough to be written as a romantic drama or a film. She also knew that Yosuke was no simple man. He was complicated in many ways, ridiculous and dramatic in many more. When put together, their eccentricity seemed to have amplified and Haruka just did not have the energy to deal with them.

Rolling her eyes at their conversation, Haruka interrupted by flicking at Yosuke's forehead. While she was used to his random appearances, it did not mean they were any less irritating. He was an omen; nothing good ever came out of his visits.

"First of all, creepy," Haruka said, circling the air between Naoko and Yosuke. "Secondly, I'm trying to spend some time with my friend and you are interrupting. And last but not least, please don't be friends with him. He's really just a creepy guy who has a lot of time on his hands."

"First of all, ouch. Secondly, ouch again," Yosuke grinned. "Last but not least, aren't you supposed to be nice? It's your job, isn't it?"

"I'm on leave, I'm allowed to not be nice."

Now it was Naoko's turn to feel awkward between the two. Since meeting Haruka for the very first time by the gates of their school, she had been known to be a nice person. There was a point where Naoko thought Haruka was simply acting nice for others to like her but she was proven wrong almost immediately. Even in their yearbook, Haruka was voted the kindest. Seeing the way she was acting with Yosuke now, however, she could not help but think there was some kind of connection between them that no one else could understand. Yosuke was bringing out a side of Haruka that even she herself did not know about, most likely.

It was a good thing though. Being her friend for years, Naoko knew Haruka's story. She would never let it show but Naoko knew she always hid her feelings away so others would not worry about. It was a blessing and a curse at the same time. Even after her mother's death, Haruka forced herself to put on a smile every day so everyone at school did not have to worry but Naoko knew she would cry alone in the bathroom stall. Somehow, Yosuke's presence allowed a path for Haruka's feelings to come out without even knowing herself.

"Anyway," Yosuke smiled, turning to face Naoko. The way he looked her in the eye was making her feeling shy. "I'd like to ask to borrow Haruka for the rest of the day, if that's okay. I hate to ruin your plans but there is somewhere important I need to go and Haruka needs to be there."

"You are more than welcomed to take her," Naoko smiled. "Have lots of fun, you two. Haruka needs it."

"Naoko!"

"Bye!"

Begrudgingly, Haruka went with Yosuke. She really did not have a choice because Naoko was adamant about her going with the 'super hottie'. As she got into Yosuke's car, she could not bring herself to be mad at him. She was reminded of when she was ill a week ago and Yosuke was the one who took care of her. Despite every fibre in her body yelling at her to scream at him, she could not bring herself to. She owed him a favour.

They did not speak for the entire car ride; just because she could not be mad at him did not mean that he could not be on the receiving end of a silent treatment. Arriving at a hotel, Yosuke stopped the car just outside the entrance where a valet came running down the steps and greeted Yosuke as he got out of the car. He got something out of the trunk before handing the key over and knocked on the window on her side, beckoning for her to follow. As she got out of the car, she was handed a dress bag and was directed to a bathroom upon entering the hotel.

The scenario was reminding her of Eisuke, how he would used to just bring her a dress without much explanation. And just like Eisuke, it seemed like Yosuke had an eye for dresses for her. She rarely wore purple but the dress Yosuke chose for her was pastel lavender in colour. It hugged her curves perfectly yet did not feel restricting at all. Instead of her cleavage, the dress revealed her back instead. He was considerate enough to have prepared the appropriate bra too.

"You do realise that I took a break from work to get away from all these, don't you?" Haruka asked, her arm hooked onto Yosuke's as they entered the venue together.

"But you are here as my date today," Yosuke corrected. "Just enjoy yourself."

"I highly doubt I would."

~.~

Setting down his wine glass on a random table, Eisuke let out a sigh. Such events were ones that he hated the most. Socialising was a big part of the event but it was the one thing that he despised doing. The handshaking, the smiling, and the joking as if they were old friends. It all felt as if he was kissing up to them, and Ichinomiya Eisuke did not need to kiss up to anyone. Except, he had to. A good handful of the people present were those he dealt business with. Another handful was potential clients that he had his eyes on. He had to butter them up, and be buttered up.

Just as he was about to call for Yumi, a couple entering the venue caught his eyes.

He would recognise her anywhere. That long hair of hers that did not need any professional setting yet still bounced with every step she took. The natural aura she emitted that would turn every head the second she stepped into a room. Without a doubt, it was Haruka. What was she doing here? More importantly, what was she doing here with  _him_?

Subconsciously, his feet moved in their direction but someone caught his elbow before he even took two steps. Irritation settled on his face as he turned to see who it was. Right away, Eisuke swapped the frown for a smile. Standing before him was a tall woman, her hair curled and swept to one side neatly. Her dress was a little too tight but it did the perfect job of showing off her cleavage, which every man in their immediate vicinity was appreciating.

"Isn't it rude to be abandoning your date, Eisuke?"

"You were in the middle of a conversation, seemed rude to disturb you, Miss Inoue."

"I've told you many times to just call me Junko."

Inoue Junko was a model. She started her career at fifteen, modelling for clothes brand but soon moved on to fashion magazines. Her first fashion show was at seventeen where she was the featured model. She starred in so many advertisements that she was known as the Ad Queen. It was almost impossible for her not be to known by anyone in Japan. Eisuke, on the other hand, knew her father better.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment, Junko."

"Wait a minute." Grabbing Eisuke by the elbow once more, Junko followed his line of sight before letting out a smirk. "Ah, the legendary secretary. Running off to rescue her from all the creepy men?"

"Something like that."

"Before I let you go, let me ask you one thing Eisuke." Junko let go of his elbow though she stood in front of him, blocking his way. "Every other man seemed to be captivated by her. Now I understand, that as men, they tend to think with only one thing. No doubt that secretary of yours has a pretty face, I was charmed by her once too. But the Ichinomiya Eisuke that I know, is not like other men. He doesn't get captivated by a woman simply because she's beautiful and he didn't use his brain. So tell me, what's her value?"

"Her value?"

"Her value. Everyone has a value. To me, that man over there has no value because he wouldn't bring anything to my career, or my future. That man, however, is a director. Now he's valuable. So what's her value? What can she bring to your life?" Junko asked. "Let me answer that for you: nothing. A commoner like her, the answer is always nothing. She can fool others with the expensive dresses, the shoes. She can fool you with her elegance, and willingness to do anything for you. But let's face it, when it comes down to it, she's nothing."

"And what value do you stand at, Junko?"

He was mad.

He was mad, but he could not let it show. It would do him no good to lose his temper here, especially not with Junko and especially, not because of Haruka. A place as public as this, Eisuke was at a disadvantage and Junko knew it. That was why she chose to agitate him here.

"I can't be certain what value I'm worth to you, but I can tell you for sure that I'm far more valuable than she is. Don't forget how you got that casino hotel of yours. Don't forget who my father is. And I'll let you know, anything that everything that I want, I get."


	14. Worth

"Anything worth having is worth fighting for"

- _Susan Elizabeth Phillips_

Coming to an event like so without Eisuke felt odd. She recognised every face but for once, she was not greeting them for business. Times like this, however, reminded Haruka of the harsh reality that she did not belong. As she watched the socialites, she could not help but wonder what it was like to be in their world. Wearing a limited edition dress of an exclusive brand, only to discard it after one wear. Showing off their one and only branded bags but only seen carrying it at the event. Drinking wine like it was water, wine that she would not be able to afford even with her current salary. The more she observed, the more she felt out of place.

A tap on the shoulder snapped her back to reality and Yosuke handed her a glass of white wine, nodding to the other man joining. Haruka recognised the man instantly: Nakahara Yuu. Although with no business relations, she had seen him at such events enough times to know him well. On several occasions, Eisuke was seen speaking with him though they never formed a partnership. He was one of the few people whom Eisuke could tolerate and actually had compliments for. He was a warm person, always greeting with a smile and treated most people like friends and families rather than just associates. The only word that she could think of to describe him was 'grandpa'.

Holding her hand out for a shake, Mr. Nakahara took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. There were times when she felt disgusted by such a greeting but never by Mr. Nakahara. He never lingered, never held her hand for more than necessary.

"Just the person I've been looking for. You weren't next to Eisuke when he arrived, I thought I wouldn't get to see you today. Thanks to this young man, I can sleep well tonight with no worries."

"I'm not sure if catch your meaning, sir."

"I can't make a decision regarding a business, and I need your opinion."

Many had tried to take advantage of Haruka before. They knew of her extensive research regarding anything and everything, as long as it was relevant to Eisuke's work. In the business world, information was far more valuable than any power or money. One simple information overlooked could be the end of one's company. Eisuke did his best to protect her from the vultures and Haruka had learnt how to evade such a situation.

Mr. Nakahara, however, was sincere. With Eisuke, he never spoke business. He congratulated Eisuke on all his endeavours, praised him for his natural business mind but that was it. He would talk about Akira and his younger years, his daring moves that set him apart from others and put Ichinomiya Group on top. He especially loved talking about his past, the many wild adventures he went on and those he did not. He was one of those 'Back in my day' people, but his stories were always interesting and never lecturing them about how hard life used to be for them. This was the first time Mr. Nakahara ever asked for business related help and if she was being completely honest, Haruka was a little bewildered.

"M-my opinion?" Haruka asked, double confirming she heard him right. "I don't know much about businesses, Mr. Nakahara. I do the paperwork and research but I have absolutely no idea how to close a deal. Or even make one to begin with."

"Ever the humble woman," Mr. Nakahara smiled, putting a reassuring hand on hers. "You don't know business but you do know companies. You see, I'm looking to invest in power, electricity. I have two companies in mind, both have their strengths and weaknesses, but my board and I can't seem to settle on who has the upper hand between the two. What can you tell me about Synchro-Mana and Abe Electrics?"

Watching Haruka flustering had to be the most entertaining thing in the world. Her expressions changed every two seconds, from confused to shock, from shock to honour, then back to confused. Any other person Yosuke knew would have inflated their ego the second someone paid them a compliment. He was glad he ran into Mr. Nakahara when he did; Yosuke came to this event for him after all. The old man was already looking for her, all Yosuke did was lead the way. Still, depending on her behaviour, Yosuke might be getting one of the most exclusive information he had been after. All for leading the way.

"Abe Electrics is an old company, they've been around for more than seventy years now which means they know what they are doing. Working with them would be very stable and you know for sure that you would be getting quality work. And since they've been around for a while, they would have all the proper connections. The only down side is because the company is senior in the industry, they are traditional. They are very set in their ways and some would say that their techniques and equipment are outdated.

"Synchro-Mana, on the other hand, is a relatively new company. Despite that, their CEO is a very hardworking man and he managed to put them on the market in just three years. Their technologies are all state of the art, and they are full of refreshing ideas. Even as a new company, they are actually leading in renewal energy. The down side to Synchro-Mana, however, is that they are young. There have been rumours regarding attitude and projects being delayed because of new 'better' ideas that they came up with."

"Thank you, Miss Matsuoka."

"I'm not sure if that helped."

"You were of great help," Mr. Nakahara reassured, petting her hand gently. "My secretary will be in touch with you, Yosuke."

With a nod, Mr. Nakahara parted ways with them. Coming to her senses once the man left, Haruka turned to Yosuke with a frown. Why would Mr. Nakahara's secretary be getting in touch with him? She should have known the second she saw Yosuke with the old man. She should have known the reason why he wanted her at this event was not as simple as he needed a date. This was not the first time he used her in such a way, after all.

"You planned this, did you not?"

"I knew Mr. Nakahara would be here tonight, yes," Yosuke nodded. "He's not a very easy man to crack. I've been wanting something from him for a while now, and he kept refusing. Until I found out he wanted to see you," he admitted, shamelessly. "And you did wonderfully! As always, as expected."

"Coming from you, it doesn't sound like a compliment at all. Nor am I appreciating the fact that you're basically pimping me."

"Pimping seems a little harsh. I'd like to describe our relationship as-"

Stopping mid-sentence, Yosuke's attention was suddenly directed elsewhere. He stared intently at the stage, a square platform set up right in the middle of the hall with a grand piano atop. Sat in front of the piano in a pure white dress was the world famous pianist, Kanemoto Misaki. She was playing a piece, very much suiting the atmosphere in the hall. She was barely a few seconds into the piece but just like Yosuke, every person was instantly captivated.

Several times, Eisuke tried to invite her to perform at the I.V.C but the pianist was always too busy. Only two years older than Haruka, she had already done six world tours with each and every concert sold out within half an hour. She started out playing existing pieces then slowly expanded into composing her own. It had been said that she was the musical prodigy of the century. Her music was always simple, not overly decorated with technique yet it had the power to draw the listener in from the very first note to the last.

Though, something else was more intriguing than the pianist's appearance at the event.

The way he was staring at her, the way his eyes softened. His signature mischievous glint was no longer, and she had never seen him so focused before. This was the same Yosuke who regularly tricked her into meeting men she did not ask for. The same Yosuke who had no qualms about conducting background search on strangers without their consent. She never thought she would ever see such a docile Yosuke. An actual human being Yosuke.

She took the chance to step away, to get away from the very scene she needed a break from. Walking out onto the large balcony, she took in a deep breath of fresh air and let it out slowly. No matter how many times she attended these events, she could never get used to them.

"Tired?"

Looking over her shoulder, Haruka found herself bowing slightly to the woman. Sauntering over, Junko joined her by the edge and placed her champagne glass on the ledge. "I didn't know you would be here, Miss Inoue."

"I'm Eisuke's date."

That word never used to bother her. Before Haruka was competent enough, Eisuke brought dates to places too. They would be hooked on his arm all night and he was more than happy to parade them about because it was easier to talk business when there was a beautiful woman to distract the other man. Then Haruka replaced those women. She became his permanent date and he liked it that way; there was no need to entertain her like those women.

If Eisuke brought any other woman, she would not have cared. But Inoue Junko, there was no way she could ever compete with her. Appearance alone, Haruka lost in every way. A model's physique, paired with one of the most beautiful faces around, Haruka was far from her.

"It's good for him, you know, to bring someone else other than his secretary," Junko continued. "After all, a man like Eisuke, it's only logical to pair him with someone who actually fits him. Don't you think?"

"Of course."

"Because what would people think of Eisuke if he were to choose a secretary? Workplace affairs are not unheard of, but to choose a commoner? They would say he's out of his mind. A commoner is never good enough for a blue blood. And a commoner should know their place too. Just because they had a taste of a different world doesn't mean they belong. Do you understand?"

She understood.

Haruka understood every word. They were words she heard all the time, from many women who were determined to get her out of the picture. She heard them so often that she was numb to them. This time, however, every word Junko said felt like a stab straight to her heart.

"That would be Mr. Ichinomiya's choice to make, is it not?" Haruka asked. "Mr. Ichinomiya is not one to care for things like bloodline or background. If you knew him well, you would know that about him."

Her sharp tongue was a skill she had learnt over the years, to fend off all the obnoxious. Over time, she also learnt to enjoy her comebacks and watching the reaction of those snobs when a commoner had rendered them speechless. Even Eisuke found it entertaining and would stand to the side to watch instead of stopping her. But her sharp tongue failed to save her this time.

Anger was evident in Junko's eyes but instead of arguing with her, she picked up the champagne glass and smashed it on the ground before letting out a blood curdling scream. She dropped onto the ground and picked up a broken glass shard. Reacting fast, Haruka reached out to stop Junko only for her to slash her palm with the shard. Before Junko could do anything else, people were already coming out to the balcony.

When he heard the scream, Eisuke looked over to where it came from and quickly lost interest when he saw the crowd by the door. Then he saw Yosuke. He was rushing over to the balcony but Haruka was not with him. He scanned the crowd for her face but she was nowhere to be seen. Without second thoughts, Eisuke started to push through the crowd and there she was, panic written all over her face and her hand bleeding. Just as he was about to run to her, someone caught him by the elbow.

"Eisuke!" Junko cried, putting her head to his chest. "Eisuke, she tried to attack me! I was just trying to talk to her when she threw the champagne glass. She tried to hurt me but I stopped her. It was her!"

"I didn't!" Haruka protested. "She wanted to hurt herself and I tried to stop her. Mr. Ichinomiya, I would never do such a thing."

"Yes you would! Because you are in love with Eisuke and you're jealous that I'm his date!"

Whispers began rippling through the crowd. All those who once complimented Haruka on her hard work, on her dedication, and her good looks, they were now looking at her with judging eyes. No one knew the truth, but they were all standing on Junko's side. She did not need them anyway, she only needed  _him_  to believe her. Staring at Eisuke, Haruka waited for him to say he believed her, that Junko was lying.

"She would ne-"

"I don't want to make a big deal out of this, Eisuke. Daddy's not feeling well these few days, I don't want him to worry about me. Let's go before this gets out of hand."

The second she mentioned her father, Eisuke knew what was going on. Junko's father was definitely not a man to mess with, and she knew that Eisuke would not risk his business. Not in public at least. He looked over to Haruka, seeing the desperation in her eyes for his belief. As much as he wanted to run to her side, Eisuke suppressed himself and placed his hands on Junko's shoulder to guide her out.

Watching from the side lines, Yosuke expected Eisuke to run up to Haruka, though he found himself pushing through the crowd when he saw the other man had no intentions of attending to her. As they passed each other, Yosuke stopped Eisuke and glared.

"You're a disappointment. Haruka fell in love with the wrong man."

Without looking back, Yosuke went up to Haruka's side and took her hand in his. The cut on her hand was deep and her bleeding was not stopping, though Haruka seemed to only care about Eisuke who was leaving with another woman. Pulling out a handkerchief, Yosuke pressed it against her cut to try and stop the bleeding but even as he was clumsily dabbing on her wound, Haruka did not react.

"Let's get you to the hospital. This cut is too deep."

"No hospital."

"We have to go, you need to get stitches."

"No hospital."

"You  _need_  the hospital, don't be so-"

"No hospital!"

Attention was once again on them when Haruka screamed at him. Yosuke had never seen her like so. When he discovered her background and confronted her, she was angry and upset but she was feisty. She fought back and she made sure that he knew she was not afraid of him. The Haruka now, however, was hysterical. That was the only word Yosuke could think of to describe her. The way she screamed at him, it was too out of character.

Helping her up onto her feet, Yosuke held her other hand and lead the way out of the hotel without another word. There was no talking to her now in her state, but he had to deal with her injury somehow. When the valet brought his car out, Yosuke put her in the passenger seat and drove off; there was only one place he knew to go.

Haruka was silent the entire time. She stared out the window, her hand resting on her lap, but did not say a word. Neither did Yosuke; not when he nearly rear-ended another car at a stoplight, not when he was pretty sure he scratched his car parking, not when he was taking her to the elevator and up to his apartment.

This was the first time he had someone in his apartment. Not even the other guys at Paradiso had set foot in his place. With the nature of his work, keep his private information under wraps after wraps was essential. If they really wanted to know, Yosuke was pretty sure it would not be too hard for the others to find out something on him, especially Taki. Though here, they respected each other. They knew what to ask, and what not to ask. This seemed like the perfect place for her right now.

Searching his entire apartment, Yosuke somehow managed to find the first aid kit that Taki had so kindly provided with the apartment. Sitting her down on the sofa, Yosuke started by taking a look at her hand. The handkerchief he used was soaked through but as he untied it from her hand, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw the bleeding had stopped. Wetting a towel, he cleaned the blood off her hand and around the wound. Then, picking up the disinfectant, he poured some on a cotton pad but his clumsy hand poured some onto her cut instead.

"Shit..."

That much disinfectant on a wound should have the person jumping up and down from the sting. Haruka remained seated on the sofa, her expression unchanging; she did not even flinch. Apologising under his breath, Yosuke continued tending her wound. He took a good hour, cleaning and disinfecting, then carefully stitching up her cut before bandaging it. All the while, Haruka sat silently and emotionless.

"One rainbow, two sugar, three candies, four puppies, and five kisses. Now you are healed."

"What are you doing?"

Just before Yosuke could kiss her fingers while chanting a weird spell, Haruka finally spoke. Looking to her with big eyes, embarrassment was slowly settling and he looked away.

"It's a spell. It's supposed to heal all wounds."

"Can I ask you a question?"


	15. Leave

"You get use to someone—start to like them, even—and they leave. In the end, everyone leaves"

- _Rachel Ward_

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

He had no idea what she was about to throw at him, though the only thing Yosuke cared about at the moment was the fact that she spoke. He was worried, and those who knew him well would laugh in his face if he told them he was worried about someone else. In fact, Yosuke wanted to laugh at himself. He never thought the day when he took care of someone else would ever arrive.

"Have you ever loved someone?"

Haruka's question was unexpected, so much so that it took Yosuke a little while before it registered. It should not be a tough question, not for anyone else at least. Yet, he was finding it hard to answer truthfully. Did he ever love someone? Yosuke would like to say no, but something deep in his guts was telling him to say yes.  _Her_  face popped up in his mind instantly though Yosuke was hesitant. He was young back then, did he even know what love was? Did he know what love was even now?

Waiting for Yosuke's answer, Haruka could not help but notice how quiet he went. She did not mean much by the question itself, simply wanting some clarity from his answer. She had been denying her own feelings for Eisuke for a long time, so suppressed that she did not know when these feelings started to develop in the first place. She had no idea how Yosuke's answer would help her think but seeing the way he was reacting did; his answer was written on his face. How his eyebrows knitted together because he was trying to make sense of his own feelings. Did that count as love? Did this count as love? Seeing how human he was being relieved her somehow.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"I did," Yosuke nodded, looking at her with a smile. "I did a long time ago. I'm not sure if you would consider it love, and I sure as hell did not back then. But looking back, the things I did was probably because I loved her."

"Is it the pianist?"

"Now you're just prying."

Yosuke looked away, breaking eye contact. Even without a degree in psychology, she knew he was avoiding her. He knew he was being obvious, but he could not risk Haruka reading him any further. She was too observant for her own good; a good quality in a secretary but absolutely terrible to find in a friend. There were many things that Yosuke kept buried deep down, he was not about to let them surface just from one look.

"You asked me before if I finally came to terms with the fact that I've fallen in love with Mr. Ichinomiya," Haruka said softly, looking down at her hand. "I avoided your question back then but...I have an answer now. I'm in love with him. I love Mr. Ichinomiya so much that it hurts. But I stand by what I said before, that we don't belong together. And this," she raised her hand to show him her wound, "this is proof that we don't belong together. That pain is all that comes out of it."

"You remind me of her."

"Who? The pianist?"

"The girl I was in love with." Yosuke stopped himself before he said anything else. He let his guard down. Whether or not she intentionally did it, this woman somehow went around and found another way to dig into his past. Still, he would not be revealing too much. "You two are very similar. Both of you came from broken families, grew up in tough environments, yet you still looked at the world and see the good. But you only see the good in others, you don't see it in yourself. Correction, you never see good happening to you."

As she expected, Yosuke's words were clarifying. Growing up the way she did, it was hard to believe that anything fortunate would ever happen to her. Landing the job as Eisuke's secretary was the only moment in life in which she would consider herself lucky. Even so, she kept telling herself that she had used up an entire lifetime of luck just to get the job and anything else fortunate was no longer hers to have. Was that why she kept rejecting the idea of a relationship with Eisuke? Because she was not 'lucky' enough to have him? Or was it just an excuse for her to feel sorry for herself as with everything else?

Putting his hand on her head, Yosuke gave her a smile as he cleared away the first aid kit. Talking to her had him realising why he was so attracted to Haruka in the first place. He was not interested in her per se, but rather, she reminded him of  _her_. All these years, Yosuke buried memories of her deep down as he did with anything else that could possibly hurt him. Each time he became determined to forget her completely, he ended up searching for updates on her instead. Then he met Haruka who, despite the vastly different background, uncannily resembled her in every way personality wise. That was the true reason why he was so willing to play along with Haruka, so determined to form some sort of relationship, and helping her in ways he never helped others when she needed it.

"There's a guest room just down the hall on your right," Yosuke pointed. "I'm guessing you wouldn't want to go home after all that happened. You're more than welcome to stay the night but please do not snoop around. Although, I wouldn't mind if you snooped into my room."

"And here I am, thinking what a good man you really are until you ruined it."

~.~

He made a mistake. A huge mistake.

Eisuke's empire did not come easy. He worked for years just to come up with a plan for the hotel itself. Then, he had to fight to have a casino built. Everything he had was possible because Haruka was there by his side, working all those late nights together. And while she was the one who typed up proposal after proposal, Haruka was not the one who fought for the bill to be passed so he could have his casino. It was men like Junko's father, politicians those proposals went to. Politicians he had to butter up at events. It did not matter how much he hated it, they were the ones he needed to please. Which meant pleasing people like Junko whose father was one of those politicians.

"Could I stay with you tonight, Eisuke?" Junko asked, snaking her arm around his though Eisuke was quick to pull away. "If my father saw the state I'm in now, he would be asking questions and we don't want that. I'm sure your secretary didn't mean to hurt me."

Anger was quick to boil over when Eisuke turned and grabbed Junko by the neck, slamming her against the wall. Thank goodness they were alone in the basement parking, though he was aware of the security cameras all around them. He could not care less at this point. He knew. She knew. Almost everyone knew that Haruka was not the culprit in the incident. But no one dared to say a word for the same reason why Eisuke was not with Haruka right now: they were afraid of her father. He was too, if he was being honest, but he could take it no longer.

"You and I both know that Haruka was no in fault," Eisuke said, his tone was quiet but harsh. He squeezed tighter and Junko let out a muffled squeal, clawing at his hand for him to let go. He wanted to. He wanted to, so very badly, to squeeze the literal life out of her. "If you touch her again, you will regret it. If anything happens to Haruka, whether it's your fault or not, I will be coming for you. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes..."

Watching as her face was slowly drained of colours, Eisuke eventually let her go. Junko dropped to the ground and gasped for air, glaring up at him. He turned and walked away without so much of a second look at her, going to his car. Eisuke knew what he just did was essentially suicide. It was always recommended to make friends with politicians, not enemies. Those days were gone. He lived his early years as a young adult afraid of people like the Inoue's. He had watched his own father kissing up to them, even Akira. He was, however, at a position of power himself.

Getting into his car, Eisuke paused for a moment. He let out a huge sigh, closing his eyes and leaned back in his seat. It was true that he no longer needed Junko's father on his side but it was never a good idea to make an enemy. Now he had to be on guard and put time aside to deal with him if the politician ever decided to cause him trouble. Was it worth it? Was Haruka worth all this trouble?

With only one thought in mind, he started driving off. There was only one place in mind where he wanted to be right now but it was not home. Home meant nothing to him; it was always just a place to sleep or simply another office. In recent years though, he realised that he was looking forward to getting home after events because it meant he would see Haruka the next day. Home started to mean something to him. Home was where she was.

Arriving at the apartment complex, Eisuke parked the car by the roadside and got out. He walked up the stairs to Haruka's studio apartment, pressing the doorbell and waited for her to open the door. Five minutes went by and still the door was closed. He pressed the doorbell once more and waited another five minutes with no response. He stepped to the side and looked over the railing to see the lights off inside the apartment. Was she not home? Where else would she go if not home with that injury of hers?

Despite waiting for the next half an hour by the door, Haruka never returned. He did not leave, however. He went back to his car and got in but instead of starting the engine, he sat waiting. She had to come home, if not now, some time later.

But she never did.

He was not sure when he fell asleep but when he woke again, it was already morning. Getting out of his car and putting his suit jacket on, he went up the stairs again and pressed the doorbell. This time, the door opened. The person on the other side, however, was not someone he expected. Instead of Haruka, he was greeted by the last person he thought he would ever see. Standing right in front of him with a bag in his hand was Yosuke.

"What are you doing here?" Eisuke asked.

"Packing for Haruka," Yosuke smiled, raising the bag at the same time. "She stayed over at mine."

Haruka never came home?

Looking over Yosuke's shoulder, Eisuke was trying to see if his secretary was home though the irritating man stepped to the side at the same time and blocked his view. The tension between the two men was unbelievably high and neither of them was backing down. There was still a lot that Eisuke did not know about Yosuke though he did know one thing: he was close with Haruka somehow.

"Have you got everything, Yosuke-kun?"

"Yes, I have. Thank you so much for helping out, Tsubaki-san."

Another voice came from inside the apartment and an elderly woman came walking out. "Oh, well who is this?" Eisuke had never seen the woman before. She seemed to know Yosuke quite well, however, and being in the apartment meant she knew Haruka somehow. It only added to Eisuke's inexplicable hatred toward Yosuke. There was a part of Haruka's life that he knew nothing about, that he was not a part of. But Yosuke was.

Coming to that realisation, Eisuke finally understood why he did not like Yosuke. It was not because he was another man in Haruka's life; that played an extremely small part. It was the fact that with Yosuke's appearance, it was brought to light that Eisuke knew nothing about his secretary. The woman who knew everything there was to know about Eisuke, down to the most private details about his lifestyle and history. The same woman who would know exactly what was on his mind with just a simple hand movement. However, as it turned out, Eisuke was just a small part of her life and he had nothing to do with the rest.

"That's Haruka's boss," Yosuke whispered.

"Ah..." Tsubaki mumbled, looking at Eisuke with displeased eyes. "The one who works my precious Haruka-chan to death."

Whoever the woman was to Haruka, she certainly did not like Eisuke. She was as over the moon as Haruka was when she came running home one day, telling Tsubaki that she finally found a job. A good paying job too. They celebrated that night, eating all of Haruka's favourite food and watched her favourite movies until they fell asleep on the sofa together. The next day, Tsubaki took her shopping and bought her a new set of clothes so she could look decent at work. Haruka treated her to an expensive lunch and paid off all her rent with her first pay. Tsubaki never felt more proud of her.

Then it was only heartbreak from there.

She used to see Haruka almost every night for dinner and slowly, it became a few nights per week, one night a week, and eventually they did not see each other until the day Haruka came to pay for her rent. The times Tsubaki did see her, the young woman would always be too tired and looked as if she would collapse any second though she always insisted she was fine. Despite never meeting him, Tsubaki started to despise Eisuke since.

"Well, I've got to go," Yosuke said, giving the woman a hug before looking to Eisuke though he did not say anything as he walked past the man. Caught by the elbow, Yosuke frowned a little and was prepared for some violence though he was pleasantly surprised what came from Eisuke instead.

"You didn't take her to the hospital, did you?"

"She said no hospital, so I didn't."

"If anything happens to her-"

"Nothing will happen to Haruka. Not while she's under my care."

Pushing Eisuke's hand off his elbow, Yosuke left. There was nothing Eisuke could do either, except letting him go. He wanted to punch Yosuke's smug face but that was not going to bring Haruka back. It would not help his image with Tsubaki either. If she was happier elsewhere, then perhaps he should let her be.

With a polite bow to Tsubaki, Eisuke left too and went back to his car. This time, he started the engine and drove off, going back to the hotel. He was not letting Haruka go, not completely anyway. If she needed the time to be away, he would gladly allow her that time alone. He came to terms with her wanting a six months leave, surely he could too with this. He would wait for her to come back patiently. She was the only person in this world he was willing to wait for. Little did he know what was waiting for him back home.

~.~

Yumi pulled the door open slightly, peeking in. She kept eyeing the desk, specifically a letter sitting on top of all the files Eisuke left on the desk. Eisuke had not been back all night, neither was he here in the morning, which meant he had not seen the letter. Since her boss had not returned, this was the only time she could sneak in and retrieve the letter before he saw it. There was, however, one thing hanging in her mind.

It was not a set rule but rather, an advice that Haruka passed onto Yumi. If Eisuke was not present, it would be smart on her side if she did not enter his office. This was to protect herself in case of trouble. If anything were to go missing from his office, Yumi could say with confidence that she had not been in his office when he was absent. She was debating, however, whether or not it was worth the risk in order to destroy the letter.

When Haruka came that morning to drop it off, Yumi was caught off guard. She was certain that Eisuke had no knowledge of the letter, nor would he have wanted to see the letter at all. After eight years of having Haruka by his side, there was no way he would accept that envelope even without looking at the letter inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Mr. Ichinomiya!"

Startled, Yumi closed the door and pressed her back against it, turning to see Eisuke standing behind her. Her eyes were wide like a prey's, while Eisuke was glaring at her like a predator. Haruka reassured her that she would get used to the intimidating glares sooner or later. Yumi, on the other hand, felt as if she would never be used to it. Every time she looked him in the eyes, she felt small and threatened, too afraid to object.

"What's the schedule today?" Eisuke asked, opening the door.

"Um...You have a meeting after lunch. Mr. Nakano's secretary sent over a proposal, if there's no problem then you could sign and send back."

As she spoke, following behind Eisuke, Yumi had her eyes on the envelope. When Eisuke was taking his suit jacket off, Yumi took the chance and grabbed the letter but she was not fast enough. With one finger, Eisuke pressed down on the envelope. Beating herself internally, Yumi let go of the letter. Opening the letter, Eisuke only read the first line when he tore the letter up.

"What the hell is this?"

"Haruka-san came in this morning and she put it on your desk. I've tried convincing her but she said this is the only way."

"Only way?"

"I don't understand what she meant..."

_Dear Mr. Ichinomiya Eisuke,_

_Please accept this letter as a notice of my resignation from my position as your secretary, effective immediately._

_Unfortunately my personal issues are affecting my ability to work, and after careful consideration, it would be best for both of us if I resign from my position._

_It has been a pleasure working for you and under Ichinomiya Group over the last eight years. I am grateful for the opportunities you gave me and everything that I learnt from the job._ _I am more than happy to aide with the transition of my position to Miss Miyazawa Yumi, although I am confident that she is competent enough as of now._

_Once again, it had been a pleasure working for you and I wish you all the best._

_Sincerely,_

_Matsuoka Haruka_


End file.
